


Balancing Desire

by Nicholas_Lucien



Series: Myths and Art [3]
Category: Forever Knight
Genre: Angst, Art, Case Fic, F/M, Greco-Roman Myth, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Guilt, M/M, Mythology - Freeform, Painting, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 21:08:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11975052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicholas_Lucien/pseuds/Nicholas_Lucien
Summary: When components are disturbed or changed within a reaction, a readjustment must occur to the equilibrium, and a new balance will be created.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own these characters and is not intended to infringe upon any copyright owners. No profit is being made from this work.
> 
> Art described are all original works.
> 
> Story includes the following references:  
> Tubocurarine is the major active toxin found in curare and could be purchased in an almost pure form for scientific or medical use.
> 
> In 1956, Rome (the Eternal City) and Paris (the City of Light) became exclusively and reciprocally twinned to each other. The motto for this pairing is given in the story in both Italian and French.
> 
> Excerpt of the song lyrics are from Elton John's 'The One,' which was released in 1992.
> 
> "... the love that dare not speak its name." - Lord Alfred Douglas, Two Loves
> 
> "'The love that dare not speak its name' ... is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man." - Oscar Wilde [can be interpreted as a reference ultimately to the myths of Zeus and Ganymede and the social customs that derived specifically from that myth]

Through the observation mirror, Natalie carefully watched as Nick entered the interrogation room, pulled out a chair, and finally sat down next to Aida Drych.  Worry had been her initial reaction upon learning about this interview, and the more Nick had explained what he would be doing, the more certain she had become that it was a very bad idea.  Nick had said this interrogation had to be handled very delicately, that he would have to ease the professor into trusting him, then trigger an emotional cascade that would result in a voluntary confession of what had happened.  Schanke had told her that the interview was probably pointless, as he personally believed a different individual was the murderer.  She personally felt this highly-charged situation was too dangerous; at least she had gotten Nick to promise not to hypnotize the woman since so many people were watching this interview. 

Natalie forced herself to let a quiet sigh escape in an attempt to release some of her growing tension.  Despite Nick’s assurance that the new diet she had recently constructed was properly balanced, she wasn’t as convinced.  It wasn’t a matter of whether Nick was able to keep his stronger vampire side suppressed, her concern was if he could re-contain the vampire if it managed to fully emerge.  Natalie knew she and Nick had been guessing at the proper minimum amount of human blood needed, but she hadn’t conducted a real test.  Placing Nick into a potentially ignitable situation at the precinct staffed with mortals and closeted in a room with an unstable individual with the intent to bring up to the surface any hostile tendencies was not her idea of an ideal testing environment.  Given the number of times Nick had recently tried to attack people, Natalie didn’t want this to be another one.  She had still not dislodged the notion that she would be partially responsible if anything happened, her diet possibly still too deficient for him.  She also knew Nick would unrelentingly blame himself if anything did occur; Natalie knew she would do anything to protect him from that pain.     

Schanke glanced quickly at Natalie before returning to watch what was going on in the adjoining room.  He could pick up that she was concerned, but he knew his partner wasn’t in any real danger.  Don had seen Nick handle many individuals this way; his partner had a knack for this type of interviewing.  “He’s fine,” he reassuringly told Natalie as he continued to watch Nick.  Don’s eyes narrowed as he thought of Aida Drych, still doubting she had any real involvement in Duncan’s murder.  He had a better suspect in mind, one who had very obvious motives.  Logic, not hunches, he knew, was the best approach to this case.  “I think Miller did it anyway.”      

She peered at Schanke.  He seemed so confident, Natalie thought; she just hoped that everything really would be alright.  However, it didn’t take too long for the faint echo of LaCroix’s mocking words in the morgue to rise and gently waft through her mind, darkening it.  Natalie pushed the memory away as she reached her right hand into the pocket of her phoeniceus-colored jacket.  Touching the loaded auto-injector syringe, she felt slightly prepared for the various worst-case scenarios her mind had been recently conjuring.  She resumed looking through the two-way mirror while she retracted her hand and crossed her arms across her chest.  Aida had just leaned over, getting closer to Nick, and speaking too softly for them to hear in the observation room.  “I’m really worried, Schanke,” Natalie whispered to him.  “I feel like we’re opening Pandora’s Box here.  Anything could come out; anything could happen in there.”  She had again turned to face Schanke as he responded to her question, trying to reassure her. 

The sudden loud crash and screaming were jarring for both its unexpectedness and contrast to the near silence that had been occurring.  Natalie whipped her head around to see what had happened, her hand reaching again into the jacket.  Her vision was temporarily blocked by tendrils of light brown hair that had flown into her face, but once they drifted back she saw chairs and bodies strew upon the interview room floor, with Drych on top and Nick restraining the writhing woman.  In the pandemonium that occurred in the observation room, she knew Schanke had said something, then had rushed out, the others leaving as well to go and help.  Within the outbound flurry of activity, Natalie moved as well, her fingers wrapped around and grabbed the syringe, pulling it out of her pocket as she went through the doorway.  She had seen Nick’s eyes flash crimson, and fervently hoped no one else had noticed the altered color.                    

Schanke, running down the nearly-empty corridor, had arrived at the door of the interrogation room first.  Reaching out, he grasped and turned the doorknob with a quick twist a fraction of a moment before he rammed the door open with his shoulder.  He assured his partner that help had arrived as he hurried over to the struggle that was occurring on the floor, though with so much noise in the room he doubted that Nick had actually heard him.  Don hunched over and, with the assistance of another officer, took hold of the suspect’s arms and tried to haul her off his partner.  Drych was screaming and still restrained by Nick, but they were able to finally wrench her free.  He barely noticed Natalie dart past him; Don knew she cared for Nick and was probably going to check if there were any immediate problems resulting from hitting his head on the floor.  While Natalie went to help Nick, he and the other officer struggled to stand up, and with the help of more officers that had gathered in the room, was finally able to stand, pivot, and forcefully drag the still vocal and thrashing Drych out of the room.

Natalie had sharply twisted to avoid colliding with Schanke as he was hauling the woman off of Nick.  She could see Nick had lost control and the vampire had completely emerged: wild reddened eyes complemented the long extended fangs and low growl he was emitting.  Fortunately, the woman’s screams were loud enough to cover the noise, but it would only take a moment for anyone to notice the physical changes to Nick now that Drych was no longer blocking him.  She knew it would take less than a moment for Nick to rise and attack.  Still moving toward Nick, Natalie dropped to her knees, the cloth of her pants providing no cushioning from the impact, and the forward momentum causing her to slide slightly upon the hard floor.  Reaching Nick, she injected his leg with the light amber-colored contents in the syringe.  Natalie had no idea when she created this solution what dose amount of this pure compound would quickly knock Nick out, but she hoped she had gotten close.   

Natalie quickly pulled the empty syringe out and dropped it next to her, the now-retracted needle safely keeping anyone else from being accidentally injected and dying.  She felt a prickle of panic as Nick began to rise up, knowing what he wanted to do, so she pushed him back down, desperately wishing the drug would function faster in his system.  Natalie could hear other officers coming over to help Nick, and she was afraid they would see the state he was still in, or that Nick would attack them.  A wave of protectiveness surged within her, the instinctive desire driving her actions almost as a reflex.  She knew the released vampire wanted pure human blood, so Natalie tugged the sleeve of her jacket up her arm, then pressed her exposed wrist and forearm into his mouth while covering his glowing eyes with her other hand.

Immediately, razor-sharp fangs punctured her skin and sank down until a blood vessel was breached.  A small, sharp intake of breath was all Natalie had managed before she felt her blood being quickly siphoned out.  The vessels protested the unnatural flow of her warm blood into Nick’s cooler body, and her body’s defensive impulse to save and preserve itself wanted her to withdraw, but she refused to move.  She focused on the thought of protecting him, but soon a new idea encroached: an overwhelming desire to open herself to Nick, to share herself completely with him.  With a sigh, Natalie yielded and relaxed, then experienced the distinct sensation of mentally flowing outward, while at the same time something was moving towards her and began flowing into her.  But as Nick stopped struggling beneath her, that presence began to recede back and fade away.  She leaned over, attempting to get closer to Nick and the source she was being drawn to and wanted to connect with.  Natalie felt her goal retreat further, slipping away from her and she tried to pursue it again.  She had barely registered that hands had gripped her when her body was jerked backwards.

LaCroix pulled Dr Lambert off Nicholas and raised her into an upright position, the jacket sleeve from one arm falling down and covering the wounds created by his child’s fangs.  However, though the fabric was a deep purple-red color and hid the blood being soaked into the material, it did nothing to suppress the fruity smell of her exposed blood.  Ignoring the temptation was slightly harder than he expected, but he returned his focus to the reason he had rushed over tonight.  LaCroix’s ice blue eyes shifted downward to look upon Nicholas.  When he had arrived at the precinct, he had sensed his son was still active and conscious but was beginning to recede.  Now, Nicholas was completely still.  LaCroix saw no physical reason why his child should be in such a state, nor anything to explain how he had gotten there so quickly.    

Twisting the woman in his grasp until she directly faced him, LaCroix assessed her current condition.  He saw that Natalie was weakened from blood loss, though she was still strong enough to partially lean over in an attempt to return to Nicholas.  LaCroix, hands on her shoulders, tugged her back, and she eventually turned glassy eyes towards him, the pupils completely dilated.  He had seen that look on mortals many times in the past, and there was no mistaking her desire and the drive to return to Nicholas.  With wonderment at what could have happened that triggered his son to bite her, and without expecting an answer he asked, “Why did Nicholas do this?”  

“I just wanted to help ….”  Natalie wanted to try to get to Nick again, but he seemed too far away.  She leaned forward instead, feeling drawn to something so similar to what she sought from Nick. 

LaCroix felt the doctor moving and thought she was trying to escape again, so was surprised when, instead of going towards Nicholas, she leaned against his chest.  He looked down at her, intrigued by her new choice, pondering what that could mean.  He gave a quick shake to his head; he had other matters to attend to, and there was still the question of how her blood had caused his child to pass out so quickly.  He looked at the floor near Nicholas and saw light glint off a small object; concentrating on it, he identified the item as an empty syringe.  LaCroix curbed the flash of anger that cut through him; he thought the good doctor had learned his lesson about creating and administering concoctions to Nicholas.  LaCroix dropped his head down and snarled faintly into her ear.  “You put something into Nicholas.” 

Her head felt heavy as she nodded, her cheek rubbing against soft cloth.  “I made him bite me,” Natalie answered sluggishly.  She raised her injured arm, laying her hand against the shirt. 

He raised his head, softly growling.  The elder knew his question had not been answered, but he also knew that she was not focusing much attention on him.  Natalie would not be able to, he thought, not after such an interaction with Nicholas.    

“I wanted to protect Nick,” she mumbled.  “I didn’t want him hurt.”

That softly-spoken statement resonated with him, mirroring one that was in his own mind the entire time he had flown over.  He had also not wanted his child to get hurt and, like him, her immediate action had been to try and protect Nicholas, even at a personal cost.  LaCroix glanced down at Natalie, who was contently nestled against his chest.  To protect his child, he realized, she had even freely given her own blood.  He placed a hand protectively along her back.  

LaCroix quickly determined what he now needed to do.  Initially, he had come only to retrieve Nicholas, but leaving the doctor behind had now become impossible; he would have to take her as well.  He gently pried her off and began to guide her towards the door.    

Through a hazy fog, Natalie realized she was being led out of the room.  Schanke, she saw, was waiting just outside the doorway.  With an effort, she wondered where everyone else had gone to, then gave up.  She was tired, and her mind was wandering away again, searching for that presence and trying to connect with it again.    

LaCroix, coaxing Natalie and keeping her upright, handed her over to Schanke, who had been waiting where he had been told.  LaCroix knew his child would never approve, but he had taken the precaution long ago of influencing as many mortals around Nicholas as possible.  Those that worked closely with his son had been manipulated by him so that he could quickly hypnotize and direct them if needed.  The impression was subtle, undetectable by Nicholas, but very useful in situations like this.  Natalie weakly resisted leaving him, but LaCroix turned her over to the waiting Detective and ordered Don to carefully take her to Nicholas’ car. 

Once the mortal pair began staggering off towards the parking lot, LaCroix pivoted and quickly picked Nicholas up from the floor.  He also collected the syringe, sure that whatever its contents, it would not be wise to leave it where mortals could find it.  Putting the item into his pocket, he quickly carried his son out of the building, taking a route he knew would have no lurking mortals, as anyone who had been in this area he had ordered away.  Once at the car, he retrieved the keys from Nicholas’ pants pocket, unlocked and opened the trunk, then carefully positioned his child as comfortably inside as possible before closing it.  LaCroix made sure the car doors were unlocked for when Don and Natalie would eventually arrive, but kept the keys with him; he did not want them trying to drive off.  LaCroix then re-entered the precinct: he had to make sure no one would wonder where Nicholas was and go looking for him. 

By the time LaCroix had finished and returned to the car, Don had positioned Natalie on the front seat and was buckling her in with the lap seat belt.  He spoke to Don, then ordered the detective to return to the police station while he got behind the wheel and started the car.  Mindful of the occupant in the trunk, he carefully drove down the street while encouraging Natalie to talk and attempt to answer his questions.  LaCroix listened to her maundering responses as he drove to the Raven.


	2. Chapter 2

Nick shifted slowly, the dull throbbing in his head becoming more noticeable as his dream receded away.  He raised his arms off the bed and rubbed his hands over his face, trying to push away both the headache and the odd thoughts.  The dream had left him anxious and very confused.  From the part he could still recall, it had started with a memory.  Nick remembered being back at the loft, sitting with Nat on the leather couch.  She had come close to him while he had leaned over her.  Taking a deep breath, he had smelled her blood, which was the perfect balance of peaches and pomegranates.  Then he bit her neck and tasted her blood, feeling the fluid spill over his tongue and rapidly flow down his throat.

Nick moaned and let his arms drop back down onto the soft bedding.  It was the ending of the dream that was confusing him.  He hadn’t bitten Natalie, yet he knew exactly how her blood had felt and tasted as if he had actually fed from her.  Nick sat up and gave his head a quick shake, trying to dislodge the dark ending that didn’t belong with an otherwise wonderful moment spent with Natalie.  However, the confused feeling didn’t completely leave him, and the headache had actually become slightly worse. 

The sound of a doorknob being unlocked and turned startled him.  Nick opened his eyes and pushed himself slightly away from the door as it swung open.  He quickly looked around the dimly-lit room, now understanding the confusion and unease he still felt: he was not in his bedroom, as he had initially assumed.  He didn’t know this place.

LaCroix paused slightly before entering the room.  He had felt Nicholas fully wake and had brought a bottle of human blood for his son to drink.  Via their link, he was aware of Nicholas’ swelling anxiety and tried to calm him back down.  As LaCroix finally entered the room, he noted that his child was looking at him quizzically.  He held up the bottle.  “I brought you something to drink.”

Nick stared at his maker, then the bottle, then looked around.  “Where am I?”

LaCroix placed the dark bottle down on the small nightstand that was between the bed and the door.  “At the Raven, in one of the basement rooms.  One that can be secured from the outside.”

Nick tilted his head as he returned his gaze to the elder vampire.  “Why?”

LaCroix walked closer, then partially sat down at the foot of the bed.  “What do you remember?”  He watched as Nicholas’ slate blue eyes became unfocused as his son attempted to hunt down the recent memories. 

“I was at the precinct,” Nick tentatively started, “interviewing a woman, for a case.”  He paused.  “She asked a question and was upset with my answer.”  The memory, already difficult to recall, was becoming harder to keep hold of; the more he gripped it, the faster it drained away.  “She said something.”  He couldn’t remember.  Aida was the murderer, he knew, but he couldn’t remember her actually saying that.  Nick focused back on LaCroix.  “She killed Duncan.”

LaCroix nodded in agreement.  “Yes.  Do you remember anything else, Nicholas?  Anything after that moment?” 

Nick furrowed his brow, trying to find the missing memories but unable to.  “No.  What happened?”  He shifted his eyes, taking in all the details in the Spartan room.  “How did I get here?”

LaCroix rose and retrieved the bottle, wiggling the cork out of the opening.  “You need to drink this.”  He saw the expression Nicholas had made and handed the glass bottle over anyway.  “At least some, to help regain your strength.”  LaCroix held the bottle until his son had finally taken it and drunk most of the room-temperature blood.  He reclaimed it and put it back on the stand, then stiffly sat back down on the bed.  Nicholas appeared to be less anxious.  “The woman, Drych, she attacked you.”

“She attacked me?” Nick incredulously repeated.

“Yes; perhaps not the best maneuver, given where she was.  In the ensuing scuffle, you sampled some of her blood.”

Nick shook his head in disbelief.  “I don’t remember that.”  However, he thought, that would explain how he had known something she hadn’t said to him – he could have easily picked that up from her blood.  That would also be a reason why he did not remember what had happened.  If there was fresh, warm human blood in his mouth, the vampire would be interested.  Violently interested.  He stared apprehensively at LaCroix.  “Did I … did the vampire … emerge?” 

LaCroix nodded his head.  “Yes.” 

With a jerk, Nick got off of the bed and started tensely pacing along the far side of the room.  He didn’t want to believe LaCroix.  The newest diet, the increase in human blood, it was supposed to have been enough.  He knew he should have been able to contain the vampire, but it had gotten out anyway.  He had lost control, failing again to restrain himself around a small amount of human blood.  He stopped pacing and leaned against the wall.  As guilt washed over him, Nick clenched his eyes shut and wrapped his arms around his body as if to hold himself together through the deluge.

LaCroix tried to counteract the emotion that was occurring in his son. “Nicholas, you were very close to her.  She had attacked you and toppled you to the ground.  It was simply too much for you to control.”

“Did I kill her?”  He opened his eyes enough to glare at his maker.  Nick definitely felt LaCroix was being guarded and evasive with him.  “Did I?” he demanded, partially in anger at being denied the missing answer, partially in fear of knowing if he had killed.

“No.”  He felt Nicholas relax, but he knew he now had to tread cautiously.  His child was not going to be pleased about what had occurred next.

“You came.”  Nick knew in such a state he could not have stopped himself; someone else must have restrained him.  He let his arms drop to his side.  Nick experienced such relief that his maker had once again intervened and saved him from taking a life. 

“I felt a stirring wildness from you.  Realizing your true nature was emerging and you would no doubt attempt to strike, I quickly flew over.”

Nick sat down on the bed near LaCroix.  “You stopped me from killing again.” 

LaCroix shook his head.  “No, I did not.”

Nick narrowed his eyes in confusion.  “But you said I didn’t kill her.”   

“You were stopped by another.  Your partner and the other police personnel removed the woman from your grasp and took her away from you.”

“Did they see me?”

“No.”

Nick shifted nervously.  “LaCroix, come out with it.  I know there’s more.  What are you not telling me?”

“Dr Lambert stopped you.”

Nick leaned backward in disbelief.  “Nat?”

LaCroix heard the doubt in that simple statement, and he found he was surprised by that.  He thought that Nicholas should already have known how resourceful and how far Natalie would go to protect him.  “Natalie blocked the others from observing the state you were in and administered something to render you unconscious.”

“Then why didn’t you just tell me that?”

“The drug, a concentrated component from curare, though fast, was not fast enough.  You were still in danger: in danger of others recognizing what you really are, and in danger of you possibly attacking them.”  LaCroix let out a deep breath; he had avoided this for as long as possible, knowing how his son would react.  “Nicholas, you bit her.”

“What?  I attacked her?” 

LaCroix watched Nicholas retreat from him again, eventually standing up and pressing against the cinderblock wall.  “No, Natalie made that decision.”  LaCroix knew how quickly his son could blame himself for the actions of others.  “She offered herself, Nicholas, as a substitute for the others.  To protect them.  To protect you.  She intended to cover and distract the vampire long enough until the drug took its full effect upon you.”  LaCroix sat in silence as his child paced again, walking around the foot of the bed and coming close to him, then turning and going the other way.  His son needed time to process just what Natalie was prepared to, and in fact did do, for him. 

Nick stopped pacing and turned away from his maker.  If he had taken her blood, a weak bond would have formed between them; he sensed no such connection.  “Is Nat ….”  He couldn’t finish his question, refusing to even think of such a possible outcome. 

LaCroix’s eyes narrowed momentarily; his son should have been able to sense that she was still alive.  “Natalie is not dead.  She is here; I brought you both to the Raven.”

Nick twisted and faced his sire, surprised by that last statement.  He knew LaCroix had recently been more tolerant of Natalie, but extending himself in this way to help her was not something Nick thought he would do.  “Thank you for doing that for her.”

“Well, I could not leave her there in that state, mumbling about a vampire and having a bite mark on her arm.”  LaCroix saw the partial disbelief on Nicholas’ face.  He would not admit his own, increased personal interest in the doctor as a motivating factor to bringing her with him.  “If you require another reason, I knew you would not be pleased if I had abandoned her, considering your current fondness for her,” he offered instead.

Nick nodded as he took a step towards the door.  “I need to see her; make sure she’s alright, and explain what will happen now.”  He had experienced many times the faint bond that would form between mortal and vampire when only some blood was taken and a mental connection was made during the feeding embrace.  If he took more, the bond would strengthen.  Natalie needed to understand what was going to happen to her, the pull she would feel towards him now.  The pull that, if strengthened with repeated bites, would eventually become an uncontrollable mindless obsession for both of them, only ending when she died.  However, Nick hopefully thought, Natalie might have escaped such a fate.  Since he still felt no mental attachment, perhaps the bond hadn’t formed, and she was still free from him.  “I need to explain to her how sorry I am.”     

“That, Nicholas, would not be a good idea at the moment.”

Nick made his way closer to the door, only to find LaCroix had risen and was blocking his way.  He had never liked being forcibly contained, and especially not by LaCroix.  “Why not?”

“There is a … complication.”

Nick backed away from his maker, watching to see if the elder moved.  His sire shifted, trying to keep the same distance between them.  Nick backed up more, making his way to the side of the bed opposite from the door.  He needed LaCroix to be further from the exit.  “What complication?” 

“One we need to discuss before you see her.”  Nicholas moved quickly, and LaCroix was just able to block his escape from the room.  After multiple passes, LaCroix lunged over the bed and was close enough to catch his child.  However, his son had learned, over too many decades of clashes with him, how to evade and run.  Nicholas slipped away, quickly darted under the bed and emerged opposite of him; LaCroix saw him by the door and then Nicholas was gone.  Growling, he leapt over the bed and took off after his escaped offspring. 

Nick moved hastily through the seemingly-empty lower level of the Raven.  He was faster than his maker, but that would only get him a limited number of extra moments to find Natalie.  As he rushed past one room, he felt a pulsing sensation, one he instinctually knew to follow.  He stopped and returned to the room, threw back the bolt securing the door on the outside, pulled the door open, and stepped inside.  At first, Nick thought Natalie was asleep since she was lying still on the bed, her heartbeat steady.  But then she moved, turning her head to look up at him, smiling.  There seemed to be a wildness to her, an unfocused quality in her eyes, but he didn’t dwell on that for long.  Smiling at her in return, Nick felt his fangs drop and the vampire rise to take over, pure instinct driving his actions as he lowered himself down onto the bed and leaned over to embrace his warm target.


	3. Chapter 3

The painful sensation of a wall colliding violently with his back was unexpected.  It took Nick a few moments to realize that was not what had happened: he had collided with the wall.  Blinking, LaCroix, initially a fuzzy object standing in front of him, gradually came into focus.  He was also aware Janette was close, but couldn’t see her.  Nick moved, sliding along the wall, LaCroix staying near and ensuring he only staggered in one direction down the hallway.  Eventually, Nick became more aware of himself and realized there was a sharp pain on the left side of his neck.  He moved his right hand to cover the area and, feeling something slick, pulled his hand back.  There was blood on his fingers.  He stopped moving, his mind cleared enough to let him think.  He looked at his maker who was still shadowing him.  “I’m bleeding,” he mumbled.

“Natalie bit you.”  LaCroix reached out and took hold of Nicholas before he could crumple to the floor, and helped his son back to the room he was initially in.  LaCroix lowered Nicholas into a sitting position on the bed while he reached for the bottle and encouraged his son to drink what remained.      

After finishing and returning the empty bottle back to LaCroix, Nick felt his neck again, though he knew the wounds would have closed by now.  “What happened?  Why did Nat do that?”  He had never been attacked like that by a mortal before. 

“The same as you were trying to do: extract out the blood.”

“That’s not normal.  That’s never happened before.”  Nick looked up at his sire.  “Was she like this at the precinct?”

“No.  Natalie was able to somewhat focus and talk with me in the car, and I had thought that some time away from you would allow her to recover.”  LaCroix paused.  “This is not the first time she has done this.  Earlier, I had thought her asleep, but she had snuck out and was trying to get to you.”

“This doesn’t make any sense.  One bite should not do that.  It’s never done that before.”

LaCroix sat down next to the younger vampire.  “Nicholas, have you ever harbored such denied love and passion for a mortal for years before biting them in this manner?  And has the mortal done the same towards you, containing years of denied longing that was tapped into when bitten?  Because I have never heard of such a situation like this occurring.”

“Nat likes me.”

“Nicholas,” he wearily sighed, “Natalie passionately loves you.”

“So it will just take longer for her to calm back down?  I need to stay away for how long?” 

“I do not think she will recover, Nicholas.”

“Why not?” 

LaCroix exhaled.  “I have observed no improvement.”

“She’s strong; she’ll get better.  Maybe she just needs some more time.”

LaCroix knew his son was trying to deny what was occurring, but they did not have time for such luxury.  “Nicholas, she is manic.”

Nick shook his head.  “No.  She just needs rest.  Natalie just needs to be away from me,” he insisted as he gestured.  “It was only one bite.”

LaCroix watched Nicholas’ hands, then placed his own over his son’s to still them.  “If I am correct in understanding what has happened, this will have to be resolved soon.  She is lost, Nicholas.  Now, her mind wanders and will not focus; this will only get worse.  Due to the state you were in when you bit her, you apparently did not connect with her, to anchor her, to give her something to hold on to.  I do not believe she can find her way back, not mentally, not on her own.  Left in such a state, her body will eventually die.”  He stared directly into his son’s slate eyes with his own ice blue ones.  “Nicholas, the process that started must be completed.”

Nick scrunched his eyes closed.  “Nat would never want to be this.  She would never want this darkness for herself.”  He opened his eyes again.  “Nat would never seek-”

“A part of Natalie seeks the same as what you sought when you first met us: what you had felt in Janette, and in me.”  LaCroix could sense his son’s distress increasing, and decided to not add to it.  His child did not need to know that Natalie had also responded to him, even attempting to bite him when he had pulled her off Nicholas and was taking her back to her room.  “Bring her across.”   

Nick pulled his hands away from his maker. “I can’t,” he snarled.

LaCroix furrowed his brow and suppressed a growl of irritation.  “Then you will let her die?  And what do you think will happen to her when she arrives upon the ethereal plane, crazed and obsessed?  Always seeking a way back to this mortal realm, the drive persistent, but unable on her own to find the way?”  Nicholas turned away from him to face the wall.  “You know,” he continued, speaking to his son’s back, “if she is asked by the psychopomp at the gateway, she will choose to return, but one cannot come back to a dead body.  You would condemn her soul to that eternal futile wandering?”  LaCroix waited for his son to respond; when none was forthcoming, he continued.  “Or worse, Natalie is consigned to the Fields of Mourning, where she can be forever alone, confined in the area where women who have given up their lives on unrequited love have to stay.  Are any of these options better for her than what we are?”

Nick pushed himself off the bed and turned to face his maker, putting distance between LaCroix and what was being said.  “I won’t make this decision for her.  It’s always been a mistake to convert one who was unaware, who didn’t choose this for themselves.”  Nick knew that far too well, remembering the various times in the past he had done that, and what had happened to each of his offspring. 

“Nicholas, she understands more than any we have ever brought across.  Natalie has chosen; she keeps seeking you out.”   

Nick pointed at himself, stabbing himself with his finger.  “I can’t do that to her.  I value her too much to do that.”

LaCroix decided to try a different tactic to get his obstinate son to understand that she needed to be brought across.  “Nicholas, Natalie freely offered her blood to _you_ , which you took.  You know what that means.”

Nick detected the slight disapproval evident in LaCroix’s tone, which was also being reinforced through their link.  “She didn’t really understand what she was doing,” he retorted.

“Do mortals ever?  But she did it for you.  A sacrifice and a bond was made at that moment, sealed and paid with her own blood.  She helped and protected you, and now you need to protect and help her.”  He pointed to Nicholas’ neck.  “She has shown you want she wants, what her choice is, what her desire is.”  He lowered his hand onto his lap.  “Or will you choose now to reject her sacrifice, deny her wishes, and ignore everything she has done for you?  How is that valuing her?”   

“I can’t take away her life.”  He looked down at the floor.  “I can’t let her be destroyed by what I am,” Nick hoarsely whispered.

“Because of what you are she is being destroyed now.  How long do you think she can continue like this?  You know how these interactions end, Nicholas.  How much time do you think will pass before she stops taking the mortal food Janette feeds her?  Will you force her body to stay alive, without a sane mind?  Do you think Natalie would want that?”  LaCroix paused until his child looked up at him again.  “Have mercy on her,” he compassionately said.  “Do not let her suffer.  Give Natalie your life, Nicholas.  She has already given you hers.”

Nick opened his mouth to reply, then closed it.  This argument wasn’t really between him and LaCroix, but something that was between him and Natalie.  He sank onto the bed.  Nick dully realized, since he couldn’t discuss this with Nat, he had to be the one to decide what would happen.  He hoped she would understand and forgive him.

LaCroix watched Nicholas retreat into himself, knowing his protégé was considering everything.  “You need to choose what you will do, and you need another bottle of blood.  Now is not the time to deprive or restrict yourself.”  He stood up, collected the empty bottle that was on the nightstand, and left the room.  He knew Nicholas would need time to decide, but he did not know how much time they had; Natalie’s rate of deterioration was unpredictable and erratic. 

As LaCroix headed off to acquire another bottle from the Raven’s stores, he saw his daughter waiting for him at the end of the hallway.  He stopped.  “Janette, my dear.”

“How is Nicolas?”

“Contemplating.  How is Natalie?”

“She has calmed down, for now.”  Janette sighed.  “What will be done?  This cannot continue.”

LaCroix placed a hand reassuringly on his daughter’s shoulder.  “This will be resolved very soon.”  He dropped his hand.  “I need for you to arrange for human blood to be at Nicholas’ loft, enough for both him and Natalie.  Undiluted, of course, and as fresh as possible.”  Unfortunately, he knew Nicholas would not tolerate having live donors, though that would be preferred. 

Janette nodded at the order; she could quickly arrange that, at least what the two of them would need for a couple of days.  More could always be delivered later.  “You are assuming Nicolas will choose to bring her across.”

LaCroix’s lips quickly twitched into a one-sided smirk.  “He will.  Nicholas simply needs to stop fighting with himself and recognize this is what both Natalie and he really want, and thus, finish what he began.”  And if not, he at least understood and valued what she had done, and LaCroix knew he would act to personally ensure that her choice was granted, converting Natalie himself if he had to. 

Janette blinked as she thought, considering all that had to be arranged.  “Nicolas could convert Natalie here.  I have the room and the bottles.”

LaCroix shook his head.  “Nicholas needs to be calm when he brings her across.  He will be more comfortable at his own place, and it is an environment Natalie is more familiar with.”  He also knew the bricked warehouse would be easier to protect and to ensure no one, mortal or vampire, could approach and disrupt what was going to happen.


	4. Chapter 4

LaCroix was busy arranging and organizing Nicholas’ refrigerator with the human blood that Janette had managed to acquire on short notice.  The packets of fresh blood he stacked on the right side of the appliance and in the drawers; there were not as many as he would like, but it would be enough for now.  He was placing the dark glass bottles on the left side, with the highest quality at the front.  LaCroix listened to Nicholas pacing in front of the fireplace as he put the green bottles filled with bovine blood on the lowest shelf and as far back as possible.  He did not want them easily accessible; however, he did not remove them as they might be necessary if there was an unforeseen emergency.  “You will require more human blood later, but this should be enough for your short-term needs.”  LaCroix closed the appliance door and glanced at Nicholas.  His son was still pacing, apprehension and doubt flooding their mental link.  LaCroix walked over to the fireplace, enveloping Nicholas in a gentle embrace, stroking his back to soothe and relax him.  “You need to calm yourself, Nicholas.  I have already called Janette for her to drive Natalie over here. You need to focus on what you will be doing soon.”   

Nick leaned over, resting his cheek on his maker’s shoulder.  “I’m worried this won’t work.”

“Nicholas, you are prepared, the refrigerator is stocked.  You know which technique you will need to perform to bring her across.”

Nick nodded.  “The one you used on me.”

“Drain her until the fire of life is but a flickering ember left in the burnt ashes, almost snuffed out, then feed her your blood and reignite the spark into an eternal flame.  The process takes more time, but you will be able to create the strongest mental bond with her.  You will need that to pull her back from where she is right now.” 

“But it’s dangerous; I’m not going to be fully aware and if I take too much, take her too close to the edge and keep her there for too long, I’ll kill her.”

“No, Nicholas, you will not.”

“Help me.”

LaCroix heard the plea as he ran his fingers through Nicholas’ dark blond hair, which had lengthened enough that it now was a mass of curls along the lower nape of his neck.  “I told you when you made this decision that I would.  That is why I am here.”     

“Promise you will help me.  Keep me from taking too much.  Don’t let me kill her.”

LaCroix knew without a doubt one truth: should Natalie die, Nicholas, grieving and guilt-ridden, would soon follow.  He would not allow that to happen.  “If you are that concerned, perhaps I should be the one to bring her across.”

Nick growled and pushed away from LaCroix.  “No!”

“Why not?”

“I will not let you be master of her.  I’ll not have her be subject to you like that, to endure what I had to,” Nick venomously snapped.

“Was I that terrible of a master to you?”  LaCroix immediately felt resistance in the mental connection with his son, as well as intense anger discharging towards him.

Fangs bared, Nick growled as he took another step backwards, putting more distance between them.  “From our centuries of fighting you even have to ask that?  It’s bad enough I’m going to drag Natalie down into our existence, I will not condemn her to that darker prison,” he snarled.

LaCroix suppressed his natural instinct to respond in kind.  He knew since they had rekindled their relationship there were a few topics they had been eschewing.  He had not wanted to remind Nicholas of them, and his beloved seemed content to not discuss the subjects.  However ill-advised it was to talk of this now, LaCroix knew if he avoided this, Nicholas would be troubled and distracted, and that would affect his ability to focus on Natalie and what needed to be done.  “We came from harsh times, Nicholas, and were taught by harsh lessons.  As your father and mentor, I did what I thought was needed.”

“You were needlessly cruel, LaCroix.” 

The elder turned slightly to look at the wooden fireplace mantle and the carved dragon perched upon it, the beast’s extended tongue seemingly a gesture of mockery.  “So I was thoughtless and cruel.”

Nick shook his head.  “Oh, I wouldn’t say ‘thoughtless.’  You put a lot of thought into what you do.”  He forced himself to calm down and focus on what he needed.  Nick considered the many times throughout the years he searched, with people like Natalie, for a cure.  He couldn’t forget how his search sometimes brought him to those that only wanted to use him, those that had hurt him.  Many of those memories ended with his father rescuing him.  Nick walked over to stand before LaCroix.  “And when you thought I needed to be protected, you were there.”  He reached to touch his sire’s face, turning it to towards him.  “Even when you didn’t agree with my choices,” Nick began, mindful of how many times recently his maker had stopped him from killing, “whatever your true reasons, you helped me.”

LaCroix looked down at Nicholas, his child’s hands dropping down to rest on his shoulders.  He felt his son’s inner turmoil calming down and behind it, Nicholas’ passion for his lover.      

“You’re with me now.  LaCroix, I need your help, not for you to do this for me.  Help me to bring Natalie across.”

The elder slowly nodded.  He did not want to lose Nicholas again, not when they were finally reconciling.  LaCroix had lost him before because of a woman, he would not allow his actions with another to split them again.  “If that is your wish, Nicholas, I promise I will help you to make Natalie your child.”  His beloved embraced him, then released him.  He watched Nicholas leave him and sit at the end of the leather couch closest to the lift door, head bent in thought.  LaCroix went over to the kitchen table, took the partially-filled dark bottle he had left out along with his white coffee mug with the ancient black designs he had drawn upon the surface, then quickly moved to sit next to Nicholas on the couch. 

As LaCroix popped the cork out of the bottle to open it, he considered how to broach with his child the other outcome that could occur.  There existed the possibility Natalie would not successfully come across, either because she had been in her current state too long to be able to be brought back, or Nicholas might not be able to make the proper bond and imprinting on her.  LaCroix considered the latter to be of particular concern given his son’s current difficulty in maintaining control around Natalie.  Without a strong anchoring bond, the fledgling would have incomplete connections and an erratic mental state, which would result in a mindless, crazed offspring unlinked to any of their kind.  LaCroix knew, as all vampires did, that such unstable and uncontrollable fledglings were dangerous and, according to the Code, had to be killed.  The elder knew Nicholas could not have Natalie’s death on his conscience.  LaCroix poured some of the room-temperature liquid into the mug, then handed the bottle to his son.  Rubbing his thumb across the raised image of an ox on the cup, he delicately brought up the subject.  “Nicholas, if Natalie should not-”

Nick accepted the bottle from LaCroix, gripping the thin neck.  “Don’t even suggest that,” he interrupted.

“We need to consider that possibility.”

“I can’t.”  Nick took a swig from the bottle, not paying any attention to the impressions in the blood, only wanting to satisfy the vampire’s immediate bloodlust in the hope that he wouldn’t take too much from Natalie.

LaCroix was not surprised by Nicholas’ response.  He took a sip from his mug, too concentrated on his son to pay much attention to the taste or the few memories present in the fluid.  “I want you to know, Nicholas, should this not be successful, I will be the one to kill her,” he offered.

Nick almost dropped the bottle in surprise to his maker’s statement.  “Why?”

He angled his head to look at Nicholas.  “So you will not have to endure that.  You would have guilt and anger; I do not want you to turn that towards yourself.”    

Nick didn’t know how to respond, so he nodded and went back to drinking the human blood.  Though LaCroix had promised to help him, there was still a nagging thought lurking in the recesses of his mind that wouldn’t be silenced.  LaCroix always kept his promises, Nick knew, and never forgot any of them.  

LaCroix sensed through their link that his son was becoming worried again.  With the time for Janette to arrive with Natalie fast approaching, he did not want Nicholas in this distracted state.  “You are becoming troubled again.”

Nick let out a ragged breath.  Before Nat arrived, he needed to know how many promises LaCroix intended on fulfilling that night.  “I find I am wondering why you are so willing to help with Natalie, given our very old agreement.”

“Fleur?”  He saw Nicholas stiffly nod.  LaCroix put his empty mug on the coffee table, then leaned back into the squeaky leather cushion.  “Natalie hardly compares.”

“I love her.  I’d hidden from you the full extent,” Nick confessed.

The elder vampire let out a quick, deep chortle.  “You are not that good at concealing from me, Nicholas.  I know what she means to you.  Every time you shared yourself with me, that love was very easy to find.”

Nick looked down at his hands and played with the empty bottle, rotating it around.  “And at one time you promised you would take that love from me.  You have even now offered to kill Natalie yourself.”  He looked back at his sire.  “You can understand my concern.”

“You and Natalie do not have the same type of love that I had with Fleur.”  LaCroix watched his son’s confusion for a while before looking down at his hands as he rotated the silver ring on his finger.  “You had said that I loved only Fleur’s innocence, her rare purity which did not allow her to see the darkness in me.”  He paused, allowing for a moment the memories to return while keeping the emotions from traveling through his link with Nicholas.  When he was with Fleur, he had forgotten his crueler, darker side.  She had not known what he was capable of, and therefore, had fallen in love with just a portion of himself.  Even when she had seen what he was, part of her was still blinded to his true state, still couldn’t really see all of him, all that he had and could do.  Not really.  LaCroix sighed as he let go of his ring.  He had also not seen all the parts of her.  “It is very obvious that with Natalie, she sees and responds to the darkness, she is not blind to it.”  LaCroix looked back at his son.  “She loves you, Nicholas, all the parts of you.  And you, what do you love about her?  Do you love her only because she has something you want?  Do you love only her mortality?  Do you love only her pure human innocence?”  He gently shook his head in negation.  “No.  You love her, Natalie herself.”  LaCroix separated his hands.  “So as you can see, this is not the same at all.”

Nick placed the glass bottle on the small table by his arm.  “That is a very precise distinction.  Still, given your opinion of Natalie in the past, this current open acceptance of her is unusual.”  Nick heard and felt his maker rumble, not in anger, but in passion.

LaCroix placed his right hand on his beloved’s thigh; he realized Nicholas needed him to be a little more open to truly allay his fear.  “Nicholas, I have recently gotten back my beloved, a relationship with you I had thought permanently lost.  I desire you and want you with me.  You also have intense feelings for Natalie and do not abide anyone trying to separate her from you.  If I must accept Natalie so that I can still have you, then that is a consequence I will accept.”

Nick thought that there might be more, but he was not willing to push his sire.  He tilted to the side, dropping his head onto his lover’s shoulder, now completely sure LaCroix would help him in this and not seek retribution or try to hurt him.  He let his mind relax, allowing his trust and love for his maker to ripple through their connection.  As Nick leaned back into an upright position, he felt the vibration from Janette and heard the Caddy approach; both were bringing Natalie to him.  He knew no other vampire would be around, but he didn’t want any mortal coming over to check on him.  “No one from the precinct will come over?”

“No, Nicholas.  I made sure that your Captain and partner think they have visited and been in contact with you as you recuperate here on sick leave.  Natalie’s supervisor thinks she is taking some personal time to care for you and monitor your recovery.  None of them will be coming over.  There will only be the four of us.”

Nick nodded, and he stood as the elevator quietly rose.  He felt the weight of LaCroix’s hands on his shoulders, initially just lying there, then tightening and gripping into his flesh as the lift door glided sideways along the rollers.  As Janette and Natalie emerged from the elevator car, Nick’s fangs slipped down.  As the mortal came closer, LaCroix’s grasp became more restraining.  He tried to pull away from his captor, the vampire already rising to take over, already knowing exactly what to do next.

Nick woke up abruptly but was still caught in his dream, the images and sensations a chaotic amalgam of Natalie, flowing blood, mixed memories, unfulfilled desires, and insatiable hungers.  Nick squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the sheet beneath him, clenching the material until the fused visions finally faded away.  He opened his eyes, seeing first the ceiling, then his paintings on the wall as he lowered his eyes.  Shifting, he saw LaCroix watching him.  Nick didn’t see Natalie, and he tried to feel for the link with her, but found it ultimately too difficult to concentrate on the various vibrations around him as they all seemed to coalesce, then split into multiple individual connections, then reform again.  He closed his eyes.  “Natalie .…”

LaCroix ran his fingers through Nicholas’ hair and along his temple.  He could sense his son’s distress and confusion but knew the emotions were temporary and would pass with more rest.  “She is alright, Nicholas.  Natalie came across and is sleeping downstairs with Janette by her side.”  The conversion process had been hard on his son, and Natalie almost did not come back, but he would explain that later.  For now, his child needed to heal.  LaCroix gently lifted Nicholas’ head and helped the younger vampire drink from the bottle he had brought.  His son was asleep again before his head had sunk back into the pillow. 

LaCroix left the bottle of blood on the nightstand, then quietly walked out of the bedroom, partially closing the door.  He moved to the red railing, grasped the metal, and leaned over to look down into the main area of the loft.  He saw Natalie was now awake and sitting with Janette on the leather couch.  He walked down the stairs, allowing her to gradually become aware of him, eventually coming to stand next to Natalie.  LaCroix smiled warmly at her, feeling the new vibrating connection with her now that she was a vampire, and though somewhat muted, it was stable.  He watched as Natalie gracefully floated up off the couch to stand before him, her head tilted upwards and her eyes meeting his, quickly changing to their new shimmering golden-green hue.  Natalie’s stare, her posture, everything about her radiated that she was expectant; eager; enraptured.  LaCroix also sensed the awakened fledgling’s craving for more human blood.  He was pleased she did not recoil from that concept nor insist on alternatives like the protein shakes.

“I’m hungry,” she breathed.

“Yes, I know, Natalie,” LaCroix compassionately replied.  “You are a member of my family now, a part of my _gens_.”  The words leisurely rolled off his tongue as his fingertips glided gently along her cheek and slowly down her neck.  “I promise you,” he purred, “providing proper sustenance will be the least of all I will do for you, _filia mea_ , my daughter.”    


	5. Chapter 5

Nick groaned as he sluggishly opened his eyes and looked around his room.  He sat up and blinked a few times, trying to concentrate.  He remembered having a strange dream, but was unable to recall any particulars; it had just left him with an uneasy feeling and thinking, for some reason, of his own conversion by LaCroix.  He tried to recall if he had fed Nat his blood through his forearm as his maker had done for him, but there was nothing.  Nick looked down at his wrist and poked the skin.  He felt very little soreness and knew any injury would have healed by now.  He dropped his arm back down to his side, sighing.  He just didn’t remember what had happened after Nat had entered the loft. 

He turned to see a partially-filled bottle on the nightstand.  Nick hadn’t thought he was hungry, but at the sight of the liquid he became aware of his thirst.  He reached over to grab the bottle and drank what was left.  He got out of bed, finally becoming aware of soft voices from below.  He put the empty bottle down as he walked out of his room, went to the railing, and looked down.  Nick saw three individuals sitting around the coffee table, playing chess.  He listened carefully: none of them had mortal heartbeats.  Nick smiled when he felt three vibrating connections, his vampiric link to each one. 

Nick slowly walked along the length of the balcony and went down the stairs along the brick wall.  He wanted to watch and take in the scene of the three most important people in his life, interacting and getting along, for as long as possible.  He watched Janette, sitting by Natalie on the couch, lean over and point at the board, gesturing with her hand while she told Natalie which piece on the board should be moved.  LaCroix, he noticed, was leaning back in the black leather chair, fingers steepled and pressed into his lips, his ice blue eyes on Natalie, his face expressionless.  Nick knew from being taught and playing with LaCroix that his maker would never reveal his thoughts on a move until it had been played.

As he came down the last few steps, everyone turned their attention from the game to look at him.  But all he could do was stare at Natalie.  He felt her mental link, though it seemed to be muted somewhat; it definitely didn’t have the same sensation as to the other children he had made.  Nick, worried, concentrated more.  If he didn’t know any better, his first thought would have been that she was a sister instead of a daughter.  But LaCroix had promised to not convert Nat.  His next thought, to explain the weak intensity, was that she could be slightly unstable.  But any fear of that was allayed because LaCroix had not killed her, so she had to be fine.  Nick had stopped walking and watched, enraptured, as Natalie rose off the couch and came to him.  He smiled; regardless of what had happened, she was still beautiful.  When Natalie was finally close to him, he looked into her eyes.  They were clear and focused on him; there was no longer mad obsession or vacancy.  He hovered his hands over her shoulders but did not touch her.  “Natalie.”

“Hi, Nick.”

Nick tilted his head, still looking at her, feeling his tentative connection with her.  “How do you feel?  Are you alright with all this?”    

She nodded.  “Yeah.  It’s different, of course, but I’m okay.  Better.  I was somewhere for a while, but I’m here now.”

Nick finally embraced her, for once not worrying about potentially hurting her with his strength.  “Forgive me.”

She returned the hug, full of joy that Nick was finally allowing her to be close, and opening up, feeling her link with him humming with love for her.  She leaned into him.  So this was what he had been holding back from her all these years.  “Only if you forgive me for putting you through this because I made you bite me.”

Nick smiled into her hair as he nodded.  He felt her craving begin and pulled back from her.  He didn’t want Nat to deprive the vampire; he didn’t want the bloodlust to increase, the vampire eventually taking control and driving her to leave and search out prey.  “You should feed.  There are some bags-”

“In the fridge,” she finished for him as she pulled reluctantly away from his embrace. “Yes, I know.  Lucius showed me; he’s been making sure I drink.”

“Nicholas has a good point, my dear.  Go with Janette and feed; you never want to deny that particular urge for long, regardless of your age.”  He turned to his son.  “There is something we need to discuss.”  As Natalie headed off towards the kitchen, LaCroix gestured and guided his son closer to the base of the stairs near the corner of the room. 

“She’s remarkable.”

“Yes, she is.”

Nick faced his sire.  “Is she truly stable?  Because she feels … different than what I expected.  She almost feels like Janette, but not.  I can’t explain it.”

LaCroix nodded.  “I understand,” he said, only loud enough for Nicholas to hear.  “Nicholas, there was a … complication when bringing her across.”  He felt his son bristle and began to prepare for what was going to happen, determining the best approach to minimize Nicholas’ emotional reaction.  “What is important to remember is that she converted and is very stable.”

“What complication?”  He looked at Nat again.  Aside from the muted connection with her, she seemed fine for a newly-made fledgling.  He looked back at LaCroix, noticing and feeling how nurturing his maker was towards Nat, how paternal the elder was being.  Very suspicious behavior for his sire, unless ….  “What did you do, LaCroix?”

“I did as you asked, as I promised I would: to help you bring Natalie across.”

“And Nat is?”

“Let me explain, Nicholas.”  He saw his son’s eyes flash crimson.

“Is Natalie your child?”

LaCroix closed his eyes.  He would not lie to his son about this; he never lied when directly asked about who was in his family and under his protection.  “Yes, howev-” He shuddered as his son grabbed him and slammed him into the brick wall.  Normally, this behavior would have been met with a swift retaliation on his part, but he suppressed the reflex.  Still, the wall against his back was not comfortable.

“You promised me!” Nick rumbled.  Too many times in the past LaCroix had hurt him, and because of their current relationship, he had allowed himself to forget what his sire was capable of doing, believing that wouldn’t happen again.  After all these centuries, he should have known better.  “How can you expect me to trust you when you do things like this?” 

From the kitchen, Natalie watched LaCroix being pushed against the wall and Nick growling at him.  She didn’t know whom to protect; her instinct, divided, was urging for her to save both.  Love and filial duty warred with each other internally as Janette physically restrained her.  “I need to help them.”

“No,” Janette warned, “let them work this out.  This is their way.”  She tightened her grip on Natalie.  “Best to not get between them when they are like this.”  Janette resumed watching the two men, hoping this confrontation would not last too long.

“I know what I promised you, Nicholas, and I abided by that oath,” LaCroix calmly answered as he opened his eyes.  Nicholas rammed him into the wall again and pushed harder, as if trying to force him through the bricks.  Perhaps he was actually trying to.  LaCroix growled; it was becoming harder to continue to suppress his instinct to fight back, to exert his dominance as Master.  “Though she is my child,” he gruffly rumbled, “she is your child as well.”  Through their link, he knew Nicholas’ thoughts were now a jumbled mess.  He could pick up the waves of denial and distrust of his words clashing with the truth his son could feel: Nicholas did have the mental maker-offspring link with Natalie.  LaCroix opened their personal link more, allowing his son to know and understand what could not be remembered: both his and Nicholas’ blood had flowed through Natalie, converting her; both his and Nicholas’ mind had touched Natalie, bonding and imprinting her.  He felt his son stop the attack.  “Now, Nicholas, release me and calm down.  Natalie is picking up on this, and she is becoming frightened.”

Nick opened his hands and released his maker.  He backed up and turned to see Natalie, still in the kitchen area, with Janette’s hand upon her shoulder, restraining her.  He could sense her distress.

“Everything is alright, Natalie,” LaCroix said.  “Nicholas and I just need to talk; do not worry.”  He firmly gripped Nicholas’ arm and yanked his son up through the skylight and onto the rooftop.  He dropped the younger vampire when they were only a couple feet off the surface, then gently alighted himself.  “Nicholas,” he deeply drawled.

Nick recognized that tone and knew his maker was not pleased with what he had done.  As he rubbed his liberated arm, Nick stood up from the partial crouch he had assumed to absorb the shock of landing after he had been dropped.  “You can hardly blame me, after what you said.”    

The elder narrowed his eyes and inclined his head.  “Perhaps; though in the future,” he said with a grin, “you should exercise a little control and let me finish speaking before reacting.”  He took a deep breath as he waited for what Nicholas would do, how his son would react to what he had said in the loft.  He felt a mix of thoughts and emotions, too tangled and knotted together to separate.  Nicholas, after some time, went over to the glass panel and looked down on Natalie and Janette; he walked over to be next to his offspring.  “Natalie is unique,” LaCroix commented.  “A balance between extremes; but then, surely you knew that.”  Nicholas stared at him quizzically.  “Pomegranates are the traditional fruit of death; peaches, the fruit of eternal life,” LaCroix expounded.  “As a mortal, her very blood spoke of a perfect balance between the two.”

“And now she is the child of two vampires, balanced between them.”  Nick walked away from the skylight, coming up to his sire.  “How?  Why?  What happened?”

LaCroix allowed his link with Nicholas to remain open; he wanted to ensure to his son there was no deception, no truth being hidden from him.  His son, his beloved, did not resist or erect any barrier to keep him away.  LaCroix was encouraged by this.  He helped bring Natalie across, done what he did, to save her and his relationship with Nicholas.  He knew he could have easily lost his son over this.  “Nicholas, you were trying so hard, but it was not enough.  She was not coming back.  So I helped, as I said I would, promised I would.” 

“I don’t remember.  How?  Was she rejecting the offer to be what we are?”  He began to feel the guilt build.  Had she really wanted to not be this, he wondered.  Natalie had seemed like she wanted to, trying to bite him.  But what if that was simply a mortal body’s physical, reflexive response to the bite, her mind wanting something else.  Had they, he and his maker, forced her into this, something she would deeply regret later?  In answer, he felt comfort vibrating through his link with LaCroix, calming and negating the feeling of guilt, pushing the doubting questions away.  Nick turned and went over to LaCroix, responding to the attraction and pull of his sire.  He wanted to be comforted more, and his father was freely offering.

LaCroix opened his arms and accepted his son.  Stroking his protégé’s back, he thought of what had occurred during the conversion.  Nicholas had taken so much of Natalie’s blood, but he had pulled his son off before it was too late.  It had taken so much to keep Nicholas focused on the mental link that was created during the feeding, LaCroix using his own connection with his son to help achieve that focus.  “You had taken her blood, left enough for her to still be alive.  You tried, you were calling her back, but she did not come.  She barely took any of your blood.”

“She did not really want to come back?”

“No, Nicholas, she did.  She wanted to be with you, and you had decided to give her that opportunity.”  LaCroix paused.  “When it became obvious there was a problem, I made a choice.  Nicholas, I could not let Natalie die.  For many reasons.”  He did not hide his interest in Natalie; it tumbled out of him with everything else that was passing between them.  “So I bit her.”  With that initial taste, he had been able to sense her and a desire to be with him, but it was not enough.  She had only a faint partial connection with Nicholas, not enough to be able to find her own way back from the darkness she was caught in.  He took more of her blood, her body so reduced already, but he was able to make his own mental connection with her.  He pulled along with Nicholas, both their blood saturated with desire for Natalie, then fed her vampire blood to finish the process, bringing her to them.  “Then she drank of both our blood.”

Nick stepped back to look at his maker, rubbing his forearm.  “She bit us both?”

LaCroix smiled.  “No.  Janette brought over a knife and I cut both our wrists, pouring the blood into the coffee mug, mixing the blood and she drank from that.  We became intertwined, and together we created a new thread for her in the tapestry of the Fates.”

Nick smiled as well.  “Your coffee mug?”

LaCroix slightly shrugged.  “It was the closest item with the function I required.”

“How did you know that would work?”

LaCroix stared at Nicholas.  “I did not know.  I just knew I had to try something.”

Nick had so much he wanted to convey, how grateful he was that Natalie didn’t die; that LaCroix had tried this; that the process had worked.  There just were not enough words, or adequate ones to fully explain what he felt.  His sire seemed to know and came towards him.  Nick tilted his head to the side, giving LaCroix access and permission.  After he was bitten, Nick reached over and bit as well, forming a circular exchange between himself and his maker.  Nick found what he had sensed through their link, that his sire had a growing interest with Natalie.  From the way she had leaned against LaCroix in the precinct to her going after LaCroix at the Raven, he knew Natalie had some level of attraction to the elder.  He pulled his fangs out and felt the action mirrored by LaCroix, then he took a step back.  “Natalie responded to you; she’s interested in you.” 

“Not common,” LaCroix smoothly answered, “but not entirely unusual, a mortal having some attraction to both offspring and their maker.  You should know that, from personal experience.”  He watched his son’s eyes become unfocused as he pulled the memory from so long ago.

 _1228 Paris, France_ < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < <

Nick woke up in bed, relieved his muscles were not still sore after the sparring match with his maker.  As he opened his eyes, he realized this was not his room, nor Janette’s.  He had never been in this space before.  He glanced over and saw a long table against the wall.  Upon it was a marble statue of a man’s head and upper body, a vase with a design of a young man and a rooster, and a candlestick with a lighted candle.  An opened case with LaCroix’s stringed instrument inside was the last item on the table, the candlelight making flickering shadows and flashes of brilliance along the piece’s smooth, contoured surface.  Nick realized this must be his maker’s room, which resulted in a range of emotions that were difficult to sort out.  Wanting to move, he lifted the blanket that was covering him, then pulled it back down over himself; he was in clothes different than what he had been wearing. 

LaCroix walked in and answered his child’s quizzical expression.  “Your clothes had to be removed; I will not have filth in my rooms, and I had to confirm you were healing properly after taking my blood.” 

Nick remembered being injured and his maker offering to assist in healing him.  After he bit his maker’s wrist and tasted the blood, his recollections of what happened afterward were increasingly hazy.  Lowering his head and closing his eyes, he tried to concentrate, tried to remember something, anything from what happened after the bite.  He opened his eyes and jerked his head up, then turned away from his sire’s understanding eyes.  Confusion at what he had wanted and done to his master clashed with the complete unexpectedness of it; he didn’t realize he had wanted that, didn’t know he was capable of wanting that.  He looked back at LaCroix.  And his master had not stopped him.

LaCroix could see and feel his son’s confusion.  Years of mortal teaching had taught Nicholas to reject and fear the type of connection and love he was experiencing.  But the experience, the feel of it could not be denied; he knew Nicholas had enjoyed it.  LaCroix sat in a chair next to the bed.  “Nicholas, when you became a vampire, the rules, the mortal rules, were shed away along with the tatters of your mortality and its temporary bonds.  They no longer apply.  The reasons for the rules cannot bind us; cannot constrain us; cannot apply to us.  We are beyond such strictures, above them.”

“I don’t understand.”

LaCroix reached his hand over and stroked Nicholas’ check; his son leaned into the caress.  He felt the underlying passion through his link, not hidden, but not completely recognized and emerged either.  Breaking his physical contact, LaCroix leaned back in the chair.  “There is something we need to discuss.  What you feel, what we both feel, it is a passionate desire for each other.”

“I love Janette,” Nick insisted.

“Yes, you do.  This is different; surely you felt that?”  LaCroix grinned.  “Or maybe not, you were slightly out of control.”

Nick knew he loved Janette, in a way he had never loved any other woman before.  He had wanted to be with her.  But he knew he had felt something for this older vampire, felt it even now.  “But I came back to Janette.”

LaCroix gave a single shake to his head.  “No, Nicholas, you came back to me.  I watched you with Janette.  You responded to her, fell in love with her, were drawn to the darkness and the power you felt in her.  Have you not thought about that attraction?  The little bit of darkness in you was seeking its match, fusing with it.”  Nicholas continued to remain quiet, their mental link silent.  “But what of the source,” LaCroix continued, “the source of Janette’s darkness?  You are a vampire now, you can feel it; you know the source.  Me, Nicholas.  A part of you was also attracted and drawn to me.  Following your desire, you came back to me.”

Nick got off the bed and moved to be the furthest away from his maker possible in the room.  What he was being told, it seemed wrong, yet he felt the dawning truth.  He remembered being drawn to Janette, still felt the draw to her, but he was feeling something towards LaCroix.  It was not the same, it was something more.  But why, he wondered, hadn’t he felt this before biting his maker after their sparring?  “Did you put this in me?”

“No, Nicholas.  That is something I would never do.  I was not even certain you had such feelings.”  His lips quickly twitched into a smile.  “I did, for you.  I thought you might.  During your conversion, you were taking too much time, I was concerned you might not be able to find you way.  I poured my desire for you into the blood I fed you to help bring you across.  At the gateway, you chose what you desired, and you were able to follow my blood and came back.” 

“I remember feeling something like that, such intense emotion, when I last bit you.”  Nick walked closer to his maker.  “I just knew to respond.  I had no idea where that came from.”

“It was in you already, the need, triggered, simply had to rise to the surface.” 

“And if it never did?”

“I do not force such a relationship, ever.  If there is nothing there, I will not create it.”  He waited for Nicholas to think about that; he wanted a lover that freely chose the relationship.  “Sit down, Nicholas.  Let me tell you about my mortal days and a common reciprocal relationship that could be found between two men: an _erastês_ and his _erômenos_ , a lover and his beloved.  And how for our kind, expression of our passion can be physical but will always involve what you have already done, first with Janette and now with me: the most intimate sharing of ourselves, the sharing of our blood and minds.”

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >  _Present Day_

“Thank you for helping Natalie.”  After another embrace with his sire, Nick found himself drawn back to staring at Natalie through the skylight again.  “What do we do now?  What will become of her?”

LaCroix slid over to be beside his protégé.  “She is child of us both.  An interesting consequence, I have observed, is that Natalie is not bound to either of us as strongly as is typical.  The mental link is muted to a degree.  She will never feel as imprisoned as you have felt sometimes, strongly bound to me.”

Nick nodded.  That was good; he never wanted Nat to ever be coerced or highly-influenced, as could sometimes happen between maker and offspring.  The compelling bond he had so often tried to ignore with his offspring, trying to make sure they stayed independent of him, was not something she would ever have to worry about from them.  “What do we tell the Community?  The Enforcers?”

“She is stable, so there is no reason to inform the Enforcers.  As for the Community, it might be best to tell them I am Natalie’s sire.  She would have my direct protection, and that would also explain why I would have her with me.”

Nick turned his attention from the interior of the loft to his maker.  “She would be with you?”

“No one can run feral in these times, Nicholas.  Natalie needs to be taught and trained.”

“I can do that myself,” Nick insisted.

“She is my child as well, and you cannot teach her everything I can.”

“So what do you suggest?  I will not abandon her,” Nick reinforced to his maker.

LaCroix studied his son, encouraged by what he detected.  His child was displaying protective instincts over Natalie.  With the desire to keep her close and defend her, there was less chance she would die as a fledgling, as had happened with most of Nicholas’ offspring.  “I was thinking of shared custody; at least until she is fledged.”

“And how long will that take?  A few centuries like for me?”

A wry smile played across LaCroix’s lips, while he projected amusement through their mental link.  “One could make the argument that you are still not full-fledged.”  He heard Nicholas’ playful huff of annoyance.  “Natalie could spend half of the year with me, and the remaining with you.”  He waited to see how Nicholas would respond to the suggestion.

Nick mulled the offer over.  The concept was probably a good idea, and he realized LaCroix was being very generous in suggesting it this way.  His maker could easily have personally taken over all of Natalie’s training and used the situation to order him to rejoin the family if he wanted to be with Natalie at all during these early years.  Nick finally nodded his agreement with LaCroix’s suggestion.  “I want spring and summer with her.”

The elder vampire nodded.  “I will take the remaining seasons.  You can always visit her anytime you wish,” LaCroix reminded his son; more time with the family and Community activities would be time Nicholas did not spend within the mortal world.  “We should probably determine parenting style, so there is no clash.”   

“Hurt her, and I’ll kill you.”

“Clear and conscience.  I assure you, I have no intention of harming her, and I assume neither do you.”  LaCroix looked through the skylight at his daughters, then back up to his son, feeling a contentment that had eluded him for so long.  Finally, after so many centuries, their triplet had become a stabilized quadruplet; his family was complete.  “She brings balance to our family group, you realize.”  He placed his palm against his chest.  “Earth.”  He indicated Janette through the glass panel.  “Fire.”  He reached over and intertwined his fingers with Nicholas.  “Water.”

Nick looked at LaCroix.  “And Air makes four.”  Poetic in a way, Nick ruminated; his maker had often compared their state of existence to being forces of nature.  He looked down at Natalie again, feeling a pull towards her.  He hoped she did not love him less once she finally came to terms with what she was now, and that he had a role in making her into this, a role in taking away her mortality.  “I hope I didn’t make a mistake.”

LaCroix narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized Nicholas, feeling through their link his son’s actual concern.  “Do you love Natalie less now that she is a vampire?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then why do you think she will?  She loves you, Nicholas, and wants to be with you wherever you go; that has not changed.  And you have preserved what you loved about Natalie: herself.”

“And the rest?”

“Those can be dealt with; times are different now, there are options available.  And our lives are not as constrained as they once were; mortals have made sure that life continues, without too much difference, after the sun has set.  She is used to being up at night, she will not find this life too different.”

“I hope so.”  Nick disentangled himself from LaCroix and descended back into the main loft space to check on his new daughter.  He watched as Natalie quickly came over to him, enchanted at the effortless grace in which she moved.  He felt her worry through their mental link and enveloped her, comforting her physically and through their connection. 

“I was worried about you and LaCroix.” 

Nick pulled away and stroked her hair, pushing aside the loose wisps that had fallen in front of her face.  “Nat, don’t worry.  We just needed to talk.”  She took a step back as LaCroix descended and landed next to him.  He watched her look at his sire with concern, then relax.  He assumed LaCroix was reassuring Natalie through their link.

LaCroix’s lips twitched into a small smile.  He could feel how strong she was, so much potential in her to be like himself.  “Now, my dear, like me, you are as eternal as Rome.”

Natalie tilted her head, looking at both her sires.  She noticed that Nick smiled indulgently, as if this was a family tradition he had heard before.  “Is that what he told you, Nick?”

Nick shook his head.  “No.  LaCroix had said that I am as eternal as Paris.”

“Well, you know what is said,” LaCroix replied.  “ _Solo Parigi è degna di Roma_.”  He turned to gaze at Nicholas.

“ _Secule Rome est digne de Paris_ ,” Nick finished.

Natalie glared at both of them while she heard Janette’s snicker from the kitchen.  “Come on, I don’t speak those languages.  What did you both say?”

“Only Paris,” LaCroix translated while still staring at Nicholas, “is worthy of Rome.”

“And only Rome is worthy of Paris,” Nick finished, finally meeting LaCroix’s ice blue eyes, seeing passionate desire in his intense gaze while feeling it also resonate through their link.


	6. Chapter 6

Nick walked out into the night, the air having recently taken on a chill now that autumn was encroaching as summer came to its end.  Putting his hands into the pockets of his jacket, he headed to his Caddy, Schanke matching his pace right beside him.  He pushed aside the strange feeling he had at going to the Coroners Building for a report and not seeing Natalie there, not getting the information from her.  But that was no longer possible, he knew.  Absentmindedly, Nick got into the car, turned the ignition key, and waited for Schanke to buckle up before pulling into traffic to head back to the precinct.  He barely registered his partner turning on the radio, then Schanke’s complaining that tonight’s Nightwatch broadcast was going to be only a mix of songs, not the Nightcrawler himself.  Nick shrugged in response to the grievance, though he knew why his maker was not on the air.  Since he was still working, Natalie was with LaCroix during this time, and tonight they were at the Raven instead of at the radio station. 

As Nick waited at a red light, he idly wondered when his partner had become more understanding and interested in listening to the show.  He knew Schanke wasn’t a fan, but his partner did make a point of having the broadcast on.  As the light turned green and Nick continued to drive forward, he guessed Schanke had stopped complaining after being at the loft with him and LaCroix.  Nick frowned as he focused on the problem; there were sometimes strange side effects that could occur after vampire hypnosis, and perhaps this was simply one of them.  He decided to watch Schanke more closely in the future, to make sure there were no other quirks.  As Nick pulled into the precinct parking lot, his attention refocused onto the song that had begun to play over the airwaves.

  _I saw you dancing out the ocean,_

_Running fast along the sand._

_A spirit born of Earth and Water,_

_Fire fl_ -

Nick suppressed his smirk as he turned the engine off; he had no problem guessing why LaCroix had selected that song.  As they made their way towards the building, he noticed Schanke looking intently at him.  “What?”

“Just thinking you’re looking better lately.  Not as worn-out, I guess; less tense and more energetic.”

Nick knew what Schanke was referring to.  With a new fledgling to care for and protect, LaCroix had insisted he switch to a diet of completely human blood with no restrictions on the intake volume.  He had finally agreed to the change only when Natalie had sided with LaCroix, though he had assured them both it would only be temporary.  But, he had to admit, he did feel better and more in control of the vampire; he didn’t worry so much that it would break out and be uncontrollable.  “Well, Nat put me on a new diet plan.”

“Seems to be working for ya.  Wanna switch with me?”  Don made a grimace.  “Myra’s got me on the rabbit food again.  It’s not enough to keep me charged up.”

Nick shook his head.  “Probably not.  Natalie didn’t approve any changes for me.”

Schanke opened the door to the building.  “Natalie wouldn’t know if we switched.  She’s not even in town to see, and you don’t have to mention it when you call her.”

Nick walked into the station after Schanke.  “She would know.”

“Man, I envy Natalie right now.  After taking time off to care for you, her boss orders her to take a vacation in the States.”

“Sabbatical,” Nick quickly corrected Schanke.  “He wants her to study and learn some new pathology and autopsy techniques in the States.  Nat has to keep up with changes in the field, and a training position had just opened up and was to fill immediately.”  That was the story, anyway, that Natalie and LaCroix had come up with to explain her sudden and prolonged absence.  They had all gone to the Coroners Building one night, LaCroix spending his time hypnotizing personnel while he and Nat had gathered up everything she wanted to take with her and destroyed any samples she still had of his tissue.

“Well, next time you talk to Natalie, let her know Jenny is still taking real good care of Sydney.”  Schanke eyed his partner.  “You still planning on going to see her?”

“Yeah,” Nick said, smiling as he pulled out his chair and sat at the desk.  He reached for a small pile of pink paper messages that had accumulated while they had been out.  “I’m saving up my time off so I can go visit her around New Year’s.”  Nick didn’t elaborate, but he was already making plans to move on.  He would close his life here, joining Natalie so he could be close by to her and take her around to all his favorite places when they had the opportunity to be together.  If everything went as planned, there would be no loose ends left in either Nat’s or his life here in Toronto; a clean break where no one would come looking for them or wondering about them. 

“Oh, man!  Not again!”

Nick quickly looked up from flipping through his messages to see Schanke, irritated, glaring at a message from his own pile.  “Something wrong?”

Don looked up at his partner, frowning.  “Only another discovery request for details from the Duncan case.”  He slapped the note down onto his desk.  “I just answered this query a few days ago.  Now they want it again.  Oh no, my mistake,” he sarcastically remarked as he overemphasized his hand gestures as a way to release some of his irritation, “they are claiming they never got the last one.”  Schanke heavily sighed.  “The Crown is not backing down from this case, so I don’t know what Drych’s lawyer is trying to do.  There is nothing more to discover.  She killed him.  Simple.  End of story.  It’s a Herculean effort he’s going through here-”

“Sisyphean,” Nick interjected, correcting his partner as he focused on retrieving a pencil from the pencil holder on his desk.  He glanced back up, seeing Schanke’s wide-eyed stare of perplexity.  “Sisyphus.”  He put down his pencil on the desk blotter and leaned back slightly in his chair. “Eternally tasked with moving a boulder up to the top of a hill, just to have it tumble back down before reaching the summit,” he expounded while gesturing a rolling motion with his hands.  Still, his partner stared blankly at him.  “His actions are forever futile,” he said, trying to not let his exasperation show.                    

“See, Nick, its things like this that ….”

“That what?”

“Make you different.  Like ya don’t really belong here.  Sometimes I think you should be at a school teaching or something.”

“Ah, Schanke, maybe in a different life.”  He pointed to the message.  “That still doesn’t change the fact that you will need to send the material over again.”

“Why?  The Crown’s not going to have any problem getting Drych convicted in Duncan’s death.  And we didn’t do anything wrong in our investigation, and she even attacked you.  She’s been deemed competent.  So what else could her lawyer try and do?  Explain all of this was a normal reaction?  I mean, how do you justify that you loved someone so much that you attacked and killed them?”

Nick shrugged.  “I’m sure he's got a strategy he thinks will work.”

“Oh come on, Nick.”  Schanke leaned forward.  “Tell me the truth: would you kill for love?  Would you kill because of rejected love?”

Nick was silent; he had done both in his life.  “What we have to focus on is that she killed Duncan.”  For Aida, Nick thought, she had assumed first the role of the love-scorned Echo, then later the role of the dagger-wielding Nemesis: Aphrodite, the goddess of love, in her role as retribution.  “For her, it was all about love, in all its forms, and she did kill because it was unrequited and scorned and that was too much for her.” 

Schanke let out a defeated sigh and returned back to his work.  For a while he handled answering the rest of his messages and requests until he was back to the Duncan case again.  He knew he would need coffee before dealing with that one.  He glanced over the joined desks to his partner.  “Hey, Nick, you need some coffee?”

“No, I’m fine,” Nick absentmindedly responded, without looking up from his paperwork.

“Great, then you can come along and hold the extra cups I need.”  He got up out of his chair, walked around their desks, and practically dragged Nick out of the chair.  Once they were at the coffee machine at the back of the squad room, and the other officers were further away, Schanke brought up what he had meant to ask before he had read the request about the Duncan case.  “So you’ll be going to see Natalie?”

Nick took one of the cups Schanke had poured while his partner filled another one.  “Yeah, I told you.”  He wondered if Schanke was having extra memory loss.

“So, will your boyfriend stay here when you go off to visit her?”

Nick almost dropped the cup he was holding.  As it was, the cup tipped slightly, and splashed hot liquid on his hand, the seared skin healing immediately.  “Who are you talking about?”

Schanke slid the glass coffee pot back into the machine.  “That LaCroix guy.”  He finally looked at his partner, who had the expression that combined shock, trying to figure out an evasion tactic, and wanting to deny everything all rolled into one.  “Nick,” he quietly said, so no one else could hear him, “I’m an experienced detective, I figured it out watching you two at your place.”

Nick didn’t understand how Schanke had figured that out, he was very sure he had hypnotized his partner into forgetting.  But apparently it had not worked.  “You’ve said nothing.”

Don shrugged.  “You had your reasons, and I decided whatever makes you happy, I’ll not interfere.  And you are happy, you can’t hide that very well.  So I got Myra to stop worrying over you, and I stopped complaining about that radio show.”  Once he had put their relationship together, Don had finally understood why Nick liked listening to the Nightcrawler.  He added sugar to his coffee.  “And this explains why you and Natalie never really connected after all this time.”  He took a sip of coffee; it was just a bit too hot.  “Does she know?”

“I do love Nat,” Nick finally admitted to Schanke.

Don nodded.  “And Janette.”  He thought about how he had seen his partner interact with both those women, compared to how he had interacted with LaCroix.  It just wasn’t the same.  “But I dunno know, Nick, not like you love him.”  Schanke glanced around to make sure they were still alone.  “Look, I understand why you don’t really want to talk about this, don’t really want others to know.  It’s like what Oscar Wilde said: a love that can’t be spoken of, or something like that.” 

 _A love that dare not speak its name_ , Nick thought, as he looked down at the dark coffee in the cup.  “That wasn’t Wilde,” he softly corrected.

“Look, Nick.  You’re a good detective, and you lucked out getting to be my partner.  But more importantly, you’re my friend, and that’s what matters.  And what matters to me is that you’re happy.  I’m sorry I kept pushing you to date various women, I just didn’t know.” 

Nick was about to respond when he felt hands grip his shoulders from behind.  He struggled with holding the coffee cup and suppressing his reflexive drive to physically throw off the person who had caught him from behind.

“So, since he knows, can I embrace you?”

Nick calmed down when he realized the unknown individual was LaCroix, then made sure his sire knew he was irritated at being snuck up upon and startled like that.  “Not here.”

“Worried everyone will see?  Nicholas, look around you; no one is paying attention, not even Don.”

Nick glanced at Schanke, noting his partner’s vacant, glazed stare and slack expression. 

LaCroix let go, reached over to take the cup of coffee from Nicholas’ hand, and gave it to the other Detective.  “Go sit down and do your work.”

Nick watched as Schanke nodded, then headed back to his desk.  Nick then found himself being towed by his maker into the nearby interrogation observation room, the door closing once they were both inside.

“Is this location better?”  LaCroix pressed against his beloved, gently pinning Nicholas against the wall with his hands and hips. 

“Where’s Nat?”

“She is with Janette at the club.”  LaCroix began to lean over but felt concern rippling through their link.  He tipped backwards.  “What is bothering you?”

Nick sighed, looking at his sire.  “Schanke thinks I love men.”

LaCroix gave a wry smile.  “No, my beloved.  He thinks you love me.  And then Natalie and Janette.  The worst he thinks of you is that you have a problem with commitment.”  He leaned over Nicholas again, gently kissing the soft skin around his beloved’s ear.  “Don was partially correct in what he said about Wilde, you realize,” he murmured.

Nick turned his head as his lover kissed him again in the same spot.  “What’s that?”

“Wilde said that the love that dare not speak its name was the love between an older man and a younger man,” LaCroix purred.  He turned Nicholas’ head so that he could kiss the other side.

Nick felt LaCroix begin to trail down towards his neck, but he wiggled slightly away.  There was still one concern bothering him.  “How did Schanke remember seeing us?”

LaCroix stopped his descent, then kissed his way back up to Nicholas’ ear.  “I met up with Don after I had left the loft and gave back what you should not have taken from him: his thoughts and opinions about you.”  He kissed his beloved again.  “I removed the block you had created.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I did not want you to hypnotize him again.  And you have seen for yourself: Don understands and is still accepting of you.”  LaCroix resumed his descent down the neck, encouraged now that Nicholas was finally relaxing and responding to the intimate personal attention he was bestowing.  Once he arrived at his beloved’s collar, he let go of Nicholas and slightly stepped backwards, so there was a small amount of room to unbutton the top of the shirt and pull aside the cloth barrier to expose the skin.  He leaned over again, fangs in the process of descending.

“I have to work, Lucien.”

Lucien indented the tips of his fangs into the skin at the base of the neck, pulled up, and kissed the tender area instead.  “You have to?”

Nick’s eyes partially closed in response to the sensations his lover was inducing.  In addition to the kisses, Lucien had at some point unbuttoned his jacket and was caressing his chest through the shirt fabric.  “I should be working,” he softly uttered.

Lucien rubbed higher on Nicholas’ chest while he dragged his fangs along the skin.  “Should you?”  He let his hand drop, abandoning the chest area.

Nick banged the back of his head against the wall and couldn’t completely suppress the moan that escaped when Lucien’s hand descended downward, touching him far below his chest. “Someone will come looking for me.”  The elder continued, and Nick felt himself responding more, quietly rumbling in a matched pattern with Lucien’s strokes.  The need to bite and drink of his lover eventually grew until the drive could not be ignored and he groaned as his fangs automatically dropped.  “Please,” Nick pleaded, though now he didn’t know whether he wanted his lover to stop or to continue. 

Lucien looked at his golden-eyed favorite, so very responsive to his touch and the neck so willingly exposed for a bite.  “Perhaps we should have Janette watch Natalie during the day, so we may continue this after your work is completed.”  He kept his hand over Nicholas’ pants while holding the younger vampire’s head securely against the wall, preventing his beloved from being able to bite him.  Lucien then leaned over one last time to scrape Nicholas’ neck.  Drawing blood, he licked up the thick seeping fluid while his beloved slightly shuddered, detecting in the ambrosia-flavored blood what he already knew via his open mental connection.  He twitched his lips into a grin and rumbled in satisfaction.  “I will let Janette know.”  He allowed his intense desire to roll out though his link while he pressed his lips against the younger vampire’s mouth as a final kiss, then moved back, re-sheathing his fangs and releasing Nicholas.  As Lucien left the room he was aware that his child had pushed himself off the wall and was currently hunched over a chair, trembling arms extended and gripping the chair back, trying to calm himself back down.     


	7. Chapter 7

Natalie cuddled against Nick in contentment, twisting up to meet his lips when he bent over to kiss her, then returned back to lying against his arm while he ran his fingers through her hair.  The whole night, she reminisced, had been wonderful: the movie they had watched, the touching that had led to much more intensely physical interaction on the floor before the movie was even over, and afterwards lying together on the leather couch just treasuring each other’s company.  Natalie moved to place her ear against his chest, hearing the faint thrumming sound of fluid moving through his body.  Her fangs slipped down at the thought of blood.

Nick shifted, feeling Nat’s bloodlust growing.  He stroked her hair one last time, wiggled out from underneath her, and then kissed her forehead.  “Hang on, I’ll go get you something to drink.”  He didn’t want her to feel like she was deprived; that would immediately trigger the vampire’s release and the intense pressure to stalk and hunt live prey.

Natalie sat up, crossing her legs underneath herself on the couch.  She hunched over slightly to watch Nick’s progress in the kitchen across the top of the couch and between the items on the table behind it.  While he finished pouring a wine glass of blood for each of them, she looked over at the stuffed toy wolf plopped next to the metal box as if it was keeping guard over Nick’s keys and watch.  She grabbed the animal as she twisted on the couch to face Nick as he came over with the glasses.  He sat next to her as she drank some of the blood, feeling the calming effect the fluid had on her, then put the glass down on the nearby small table.  Nick continued to drink as she played with the toy in her lap, remembering the first time she had seen it at the police station and how Nick had responded to seeing it.  “So why did LaCroix give you a wolf?”  She thought it might have had something to do with being in a pack. 

Nick extended a hand over to pet the toy.  “Well, you know LaCroix was Roman, and one of the symbols for the Empire was the wolf.”

“Because they’re strong and fierce?”

“Yes, there was that.  But also, one of the myths of Rome was about the founder Romulus and his twin Remus, who were, for a short time, cared for by a she-wolf when they were babes.  The wolf eventually became more recognized as representing the Roman Empire than either the Roman Eagle or the deity Roma.”

“So basically instead of a card saying the gift was from him, he left you a wolf.”

Nick nodded his head.  “Yeah, something only I would recognize and understand.”

Nat petted the gray and white wolf.  “Plus, he’s so cute.”

Nick gently took the wolf from Nat, putting it and his wine glass on the table behind the couch.  “So are you.”  He let his eyes shift color as he leaned over to kiss her.  Nat responded as intensely as he did, and after a few moments his fangs had descended, as had hers. 

As Nick pulled away from her after their final kiss, she scraped one elongated tooth against his.  He leaned away from her, a surprised expression on his face.  Natalie smiled.  “LaCroix recently mentioned you lik-”

Nick did not give Nat time to finish her statement before grabbing her and tumbling off the couch.  The sound of her laughter and his own delighted rumbling drowned out the noise of their impact on the floor.  He made sure she had free access to his neck as he dove into hers.  

When they had finished, Natalie found herself in the opposite position that they had occupied earlier on the couch.  She was stretched out along the leather while Nick was partially curled on top of her.  “I love you, Nick.”

“I love you too, Nat,” Nick rumbled in response.      

Natalie ran her fingers through Nick’s hair, thinking that he seemed very contented and relaxed.  Not just tonight, but she had noticed it had gradually been building since her conversion.  He looked less stressed, and that was very noticeable to her since she had never really seen a non-stressed Nick before.  She hoped he stayed like this and didn’t sink into a darker mood later.  She smiled as her link with Nick thrummed.  She leaned back further on the couch, resting her head on the short armrest, thinking about what she had experienced in the exchanging of blood with Nick, some of the specific memories she had detected and still recalled from the many that rushed so fast past her.

Nick stiffened and sat back up, looking at Natalie.  He had felt a quick change within her; for a moment she had become concerned.  He worried she was beginning to doubt becoming a vampire.  “Nat, are you okay?  With this, all of this?  I know it’s still a lot to take in, but I want you to know you can always talk to me.”

Nat stared at Nick.  She had a lot to get used to, studying Nick and her understanding of vampires helped, but she had come to realize he had not told her everything.  She closed her eyes for a moment.  She was having some difficulty getting used to Nick being so receptive to her, now that they had a connection.  She had gotten used to him missing or not recognizing so many clues and hints from her; now he was very aware, and she sometimes forgot that.  She sat up on the couch, facing him.  “I was just thinking about what I pick up when I take … I mean, share blood with you.  It’s kinda intense; there’s not really an equivalent experience for mortals.”

Nick smiled.  “Not really anything quite like it.  That’s one of the reasons it was so hard to explain to you, before.”

“Will it always be like that?”

He sighed.  “Well, as we get older and experience new things; we change and what is shared changes.  But for the most part, it will always be like this between you and me.  And probably also with LaCroix, since you share a similar bond with him.  But with other vampires, it will not be as intense.”  Nick waited for Nat to say something, but she said nothing.  He took a deep breath.  “When we share, it’s a cycle, and endless cycle; each time we share a new part is created, like a linked chain.  One of the reasons this experience will feel deeper with your maker is the links go back to the very beginning of you, your conversion.  Biting; sharing; it was the last thing you experienced as a mortal with your maker and the first thing you experienced as a vampire with your maker.  You won’t have that kind of connection to anyone else.”      

“There’s just so much you never told me.”

“Well, I didn’t want to glamorize this life.  Plus, a lot of those were feelings and experiences I wanted to get away from.”

“And now?”

“I don’t want to go away from you.”

“I think I understand better now; you can’t really leave LaCroix, can you?  Not completely.”

“No.  I tried.  You know I tried.  But there is always that little bit, that little connection I couldn’t run away from.”  Nick tilted his head to the side, looking at her.  “Was that what you were upset about?  Are you worried about us having this link but me leaving you?”  He was partially relieved she was not regretting coming across.

“No, it was because of what I picked up from you.”  She looked down at her hands.  “Something that made you so sad.”

Nick touched her chin, raising Nat’s head until she looked at him.  He dropped his hands to rest on top of hers.  “What was that?”

“When you broke up with LaCroix.  Your argument.  What he said.”  Nick didn’t move away from her, she was glad of that, but he did retract his hands from hers. 

“It’s okay, you can say it.  In time, there are no secrets within our family.”

“It was because of your sister.  Fleur.  Your argument became about her.”  Nat felt it again, the sadness and pain of the memory, and some of her own anger at what LaCroix had done, how he had wanted to, and did, hurt Nick.  “That he only wanted you as a substitute for her, the closest he could be with her was with you.”

Nick closed his eyes.  “I’m sorry you found that one.  Usually, I’m good at blocking.”  He opened his eyes to look upon Natalie again.  “How did you find it?”

“Oh, Nick,” she said, reaching out to grasp his hands and pull them towards herself.  “LaCroix was right; you’re very open, and not very good at blocking.”  Though Natalie had also thought that maybe Nick didn’t want to hold anything back from her anymore.   

Nick tilted his head and gave a lopsided grin.  “You two talk about me?”

“Of course, he talks about you all the time.  He’s quite obsessed with you, you know.”

“Make no mistake, Nat.  He just has a different way of showing it, but LaCroix does like you.”

“Not like he does you.”

Nick rolled his eyes quickly.  “I’m different.  But you … you surprised him.  And frustrated him, and irritated him, and intrigued him, and fascinated him, and more.” 

“Nick,” she hesitantly started, “would you be alright with me being in a relationship with LaCroix?”

“I understand that can happen and that’s alright, though not that you need my permission, I’m not master over you.  You don’t have to worry about him pressuring you though; he will never force such a relationship if you don’t want it.”

Nat fidgeted.  “At first I didn’t think I would be interested in him, he did treat me like an adversary and manipulated me, but it just kinda grew.  Mostly I was irritated at him, but then I began to wonder why I was spending so much time focused on him.  And being jealous of him for being in a relationship with you, and that you were with him.”  She paused, then softly said, “I felt something in him I felt in you.  I wasn’t afraid of that part of him, just like I wasn’t afraid of it in you.  It’s just … love-”

“I’ve been told,” Nick interrupted, “that part of what we are allows us to have a broader understanding of love.  We can love more than one person at a time, each differently, but still as intensely; it’s not a betrayal to love both.  We can even love an individual, part badly, but the love is still there, ready to rise once more as we fall in love all over again.”

“That’s beautiful.  Who said that?”

Nick’s lips curved into a quick smile.  “I learned that from Janette; though it took me a long time to realize she was right.  Of course, she was leaving me at the time, so I was hardly in the right frame of mind to appreciate what she was trying to tell me.”

“She was leaving you?  Why?”

Nick shrugged.  “We had been married for a while and-”

“You were married?”  Nat gave her sire a playful push on the chest.  “You never told me that!”

“I guess there’s a lot I never told you.”

“Yeah, like also how horrible those protein shakes tasted,” she said, trying to lighten the mood and steer the conversation away from Janette.  Natalie still felt intimidated by her … sister?  Aunt?  Rival for Nick?  Even after coming across, she still found Janette hard to relate to.  Janette was friendly enough, but did the other woman really like her?  She wasn’t sure yet.

Nick grinned.  “I did tell you they tasted bad,” he jokingly reminded her.

“No, Nick; there is ‘bad,’ and then there is what those things taste like.”

“When did you drink one?  There aren’t any here.”

“After we were last at the morgue.  I was emptying out the fridge and found one in the back.  I knew what they tasted like with mortal senses, and I was curious how it would taste to me now, so I took it along with everything else I cleaned out.  I nearly gagged when I finally tasted it.”  She almost gagged again at the memory; she could only imagine how worse it would have been if she had actually swallowed the fluid. 

“Well, I often did.  Especially the first ones you made, before you greatly improved the recipe.”

Natalie grinned as Nick laughed.  She was enjoying herself with Nick, had been since coming across.  It felt so good to be with him.  They were communicating more and Nick was more open with her; all the things she had wanted and now realized that, as a mortal, she probably wouldn’t have been able to really achieve with him.  There had been a barrier between them, and now that barrier was gone.

After Nick had calmed himself down, he kissed her, then rose up off the couch.  “Come, I have something for you.”

Intrigued, Natalie followed Nick to his easel that was holding up a very large covered canvas.  She had seen the covered piece in the loft for a while, but Nick had not let her peek at what was underneath.  She also never saw him work on it, though she had seen the paintbrushes he had cleaned, the tubes of color dwindling down, and new splotches of paint that appeared on the tarp that covered the floor.  Natalie had assumed he worked on it at some point during the day while she slept upstairs.

“Now, you know LaCroix has decided that you and he will go to Italy first.”  Nick frowned, recalling what his sire had said.  “He mentioned something about you needing a refresher course in history.” 

Nat feigned a look of innocence.  She knew what LaCroix meant by that.

“Anyway, I thought you would want something from me, to remind you of me when I’m not around.” 

“Like I would ever forget you, Nick.”

He smirked as he gently pulled off the dark sheet that covered the painting.  Nick stepped to the side, both to allow Nat to get closer and to gauge her reaction. 

“Nick,” Natalie whispered, “this is beautiful.”  The canvas showed a forest scene, or more accurately she realized, a huge orchard of fruit trees.  There were two different types of plants, based on their shape and the color of the fruit they produced.  She pointed to the canvas.  “What are these trees?”

“A mix of peach trees and pomegranate trees,” Nick responded, pointing out the two different species.

Natalie leaned in closer to the painting; there was so much detail she could see.  The trees were depicted in their various states throughout the seasons.  Beginning on the left of the canvas, the trees were shown in spring; this covered the first ten percent of the area.  Then next, taking up about a quarter of the canvas, were the trees in summer.  The next quarter was autumn, then the next quarter was winter, which even had white snow upon the ground and the branches.  The remaining portion of the right side of the canvas was spring again.  Natalie was amazed; each season blended into the next seamlessly.  She studied the work some more.  Natalie saw a person behind the first row of trees, with a shock she realized it was her, walking from the winter section into the spring section.  She let out a tiny laugh: there were even squirrels running along various trees and bird’s nests in each season containing either eggs, open-mouthed chicks, fledglings about to fly off, or nothing at all.  She turned to Nick, putting a hand over her mouth.  Fortunately, he knew what she wanted and came over; he embraced her as she enveloped him.  “Nick, it’s absolutely wonderful, thank you.”

“I’m glad you like it.”  Nick heard her sniff as she pulled away from him.  “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just, we’re leaving soon, and I can’t fit that onto the plane.  I won’t have it with me.”

Nick grinned.  “That’s why,” he said as he reached over, “I painted you two of them.”  He handed her a smaller canvas, just large enough to fit into both her hands.  “Perfect size for carry-on.”  He watched as she gazed at the painting, her hand moving across the canvas, hovering over the surface.  “I’ll have this larger one sent over, but it will take some time to arrive.”  There were extra precautions he would have to arrange to ensure that during the trip no light touched the canvas, destroying it.

Natalie put the canvas gently down on the painting table and then hugged Nick again.  “I’m going to miss you, and I’ll keep that painting near me all the time.”

“Wonderful.  Now I know I have said this before, and I will say it again: if you have any problems, call me.  I’ll be on the next flight out to come and get you.”  He felt her nod against his shoulder and sensed through their link her comfort in his reminder.  “Well,” Nick said as he released Natalie, “Janette said she would be dropping by and that she’s going to help you get ready for traveling.”

Natalie exhaled slowly.  “You are okay with this, Nick: me going with LaCroix and you staying here for a while?  Really?”

“I know there are some things you can really only learn from LaCroix.  And I’ll be seeing you soon.  You can always call; don’t worry about the time difference.”  Nick gave her another quick hug as he heard the freight elevator moving.  Ever since his maker had done maintenance on the equipment, he had been using it more often to enter the loft.  He and Natalie backed up to allow room for both LaCroix and Janette to exit the elevator. 

“Well, come along, Natalie,” Janette said immediately after embracing both of the younger vampires.  “There is much to do.”

Natalie had to agree.  Even though she had been getting ready to leave, she found more things that had to be done.  “Yes, finish getting ready and close out my life here.  I guess the easiest is to just say I died.” 

“Just like that?  No, my dear,” Janette chided, “it needs to be a bit more believable.  But Nicolas will be handling most of that.”   

Nick nodded.  “When I come to visit you, I’ll be leaving my mortal life as well.  To ensure both our lives here end, there will be a fire in the townhouse you are supposedly living in, and we will both have been caught in it.  Janette has agreed to have her townhouse burned.”      

“Yes, which you will then be paying to fix,” Janette promptly reminded him.  “But enough of that, Natalie should be focusing on where she is going.  Get what you need and let’s be off.”  She waited until Natalie had walked away from their group.  “I will bring her back right after the sun sets tomorrow.  You know, Nicolas,” she said as she leaned against him, “it was a good decision that I turned down your offer of going to the theater.  If I had gone, then none of this would have happened.  I think it is all for the better this way, don’t you think?”  She sinuously propelled herself off Nicolas to stand upright again and moved away as Natalie came back. “I will be on the roof.”

Natalie watched as Janette flew up.  She then gave each of her sires a parting embrace.  As she reluctantly pulled away from Nick, he spoke to her.

“Janette really does like you,” Nick whispered to her, calming her concern he felt thought their link.

“How do you know?”

Nick grinned.  “It’s her favorite townhouse.  She wouldn’t even redecorate it for me.”  He kissed her, then watched as she too rose up and left through the skylight to follow Janette.


	8. Chapter 8

Through the glass panes of the skylight, LaCroix watched both his daughters leave Nicholas’ bricked warehouse home.  Natalie was a surprise for him, he had come to realize.  For all she wanted to help Nicholas go back to being mortal, she was most instrumental in getting him to begin returning to being a vampire.  She was also, as a fledgling vampire, already showing great promise.  Natalie had a natural balance of wild passion and ridged self-discipline; he knew she would be very interesting as she developed.  Smiling, LaCroix reached over, draping his arm around his son’s neck and shoulders.  “I believe Natalie got the best of both of us.  She certainly brings out the best in you.”  He definitely sensed that his son was better balanced than before.  All it took, the elder thought, was to have an important part of Nicholas’ mortal life come over to his vampire life, creating a new equilibrium. 

Nick huffed as he squirmed out from under LaCroix’s arm.  He went to the kitchen to pour out two wine glasses of blood. 

“I look forward to her time with me in Italy.”

“Just don’t bore her with history lessons all the time,” Nick responded while pulling down the two glasses.  “She is used to working with her hands and solving problems.”  He opened the bottle that he had left on the table from earlier.

“I know,” LaCroix called over.  “I understand she is using herself as another vampire subject to add to her data, charting how she is changing.”

“Don’t discourage her, LaCroix,” Nick sternly said as he poured the contents of the bottle into each glass.  “She still wants to help me-”

“Yes, yes,” LaCroix droned, “understand the vampire and reverse your condition.  I wish you would abandon such a futile search.  It has brought you nothing but pain and heartache.”

“It brought me Natalie.  And I haven’t changed that much in these last couple of months, to give up all I value.”

LaCroix twitched his lips into a semblance of a smile.  Nicholas clearly had no idea how much he had changed, how much he had come back.  “Well, in any event, I am having a small laboratory set up for her use.”

Nick returned to his maker’s side, handing over one of the filled wine glasses.  “That’s generous of you.”

The elder shrugged; he was willing to give the impression he was being permissive for Natalie; he did not want to be too antagonistic with her on this topic.  LaCroix was confident that, as she spent more time as a vampire and learned from him all their kind could do, she would eventually lose interest and choose to follow and be with him.  He had finally realized his original strategy for Natalie had been in error; instead of using her to push Nicholas, his son would follow where she went.  And for any campaign to have even a chance of succeeding, LaCroix had reminded himself, the unit needed to take the first step in the right direction.  After that, it was all about continuing the momentum.  Natalie would continue to move forward, and Nicholas would continue to follow.  He took a small sip from the glass.  “It will be a very small room.” 

“I appreciate you doing that for her.”

“Yes, for her.”  He turned to look at the painting Nicholas had finally finished before his son could probe for an explanation, feeling the slight tug from his son’s blood in the paint.  “I do not know what to make of your topic for this piece.”

Nick turned his gaze to the painting, then back to LaCroix.  “Why?  I think it's fine and appropriate, considering.”

“Honestly, Nicholas,” LaCroix drawled, “the myth of Persephone?  That would cast me in the role of Hades.”  He felt greatly insulted.  “It is a demotion from being Zeus in your last artistic endeavor.”

“Well,” Nick playfully replied, “at least you’re not a dog this time.”

“Mythical hound,” he corrected, matching his tone to Nicholas’.  They both sipped from their glasses, LaCroix paying close attention to their link.  Something had bubbled up in his son when Janette had been there, and it still was present, lurking just under the surface.  “You are bothered about something.”

“Yes, Natalie is leaving.”

LaCroix partially closed his eyes, scrutinizing everything about his son.  “No, not that.  Tell me.”

Nick walked over to the leather couch, his maker, shadow-like, trailed closely behind him.  He stopped, then turned to his sire.  “The concert tickets.”

“Oh, Nicholas, you are still obsessing about that?  I thought we resolved that, just like the idea you had that the maintenance man at my building was the man that tried to attack us in the alley.”

“Did you arrange for me to get those tickets through my work?”

LaCroix exhaled.  “Yes.”

“I was going to go with Natalie.”  Nick paused, closing his eyes and shaking his head; now he understood.  “You got her schedule changed.  And then when I went to Janette you had her send me to you.”  He opened his eyes.  His maker had a completely neutral expression on his face.  “You were irritated I wanted to go with Nat, but you already knew I was going to do that.”

“It was still dissatisfying to know you did choose a mortal over me, even if I predicted that you would.”

“What if I had decided to go alone?”

The elder gave a small cough.  “I already had tickets to that concert.  Better seating, I might add.  I am sure I would have run into you at the Hall at some point.  Nicholas, this does not change anything.  This was all still your choice.”

Nick bent his head down, thinking.  He finally realized it truly didn’t matter how he had gotten to the concert.  For too long he had been suspicious of this maker, and that had spread into all his dealings with LaCroix.  From looking for his sire’s influence to them getting back together, to thinking LaCroix might have arranged for the attack in the alley, Nick realized it was time to finally stop dwelling on those things, to stop looking for manipulating schemes or traps.  Many recent events had shown multiple times that his lover wanted him and didn’t want to hurt him again, that was what mattered.  He felt his mental link hum as Lucien came closer; his lover took the wine glass that was still in his hand.  Nick looked up to see his sire turned away from him, putting the glasses down on the little side table next to the couch.  Nick silently walked over to him.

Lucien placed both of the wine glasses down, then stood when he felt hands on his shoulders and lips on the nape of his neck.  He was surprised Nicholas had been able to sneak up on him and get that close without his knowledge.  He let their link vibrate with encouragement and was pleased that Nicholas continued what they were beginning.  Lucien felt one last kiss, then his beloved removed his hands.  He was about to turn around when he heard a shirt being removed and tossed aside, then Nicholas was touching him again.  He let out a slow sigh as his beloved moved his hands to wrap them around his chest, reaching for the buttons on the front.  With Nicholas pressed against his back, the buttons to the jacket and the shirt he wore were quickly undone, and both articles of clothing were slipped off from him as one.  He turned around to see his beloved holding his garments in one hand, then tossing them to land on the couch on top of the previously discarded shirt.  Before the jacket and shirt had actually fallen, his beloved had embraced him again, lips meeting in passion and need.  Lucien ran his fingers through Nicholas’ recently-trimmed hair while he heard a small metallic clank and the shifting of cloth, indicating his clothing had finally settled. 

Nick pulled away from Lucien when he heard the clinking sound.  The sound was familiar, but one he could not immediately place.  However, he was intrigued by what his lover might have brought over, so he went to go dig into the jacket pocket for the item that had distracted him.  As Nick pulled the metal object out, he scowled at it, then held it up for Lucien to see.  He kept one finger in one of the rings as the other, attached to a small chain, fell to dangle and swing beneath his hand.  “Where did you get these handcuffs?”  Lucien came towards him to claim them, but Nick leapt back.  “These aren’t mine.”  He hopped back some more in response to his lover’s continued advancement, twisting the cuffs around to see if there were any marks on them; he found a very familiar one.  Moving backwards out of the entertainment area, he looked at Lucien.  “Schanke’s been looking for these.  How do you come to have them?”

Lucien, picking up that Nicholas was not too serious or angry at the moment, matched his response in kind.  “The Detective was kind enough to give them to me.”

“Really?” Nick asked, incredulously.  “He gave them to you?  When?”

Nicholas was still slowly backing away from him, playing with the restraints.  Lucien followed, then moved to be ahead of him, then backed up towards the stairs next to the kitchen area.  “When I gave Don the cup and wolf to take into the police station to put on your desk.  He was kind enough to give those to me.  I could not refuse a gift, Nicholas; that would have been intolerably rude.”  He moved onto the first riser of the stairs, with the intent to gradually lure his beloved to the bedroom.  He saw Nicholas smile as he opened both the rings, then looked at him, his beloved’s slate blue eyes were flecked with brilliant gold.  Nicholas increased his pace, and Lucien backed quickly up the remaining few stairs until he was on the small landing.  He intended to turn, then continue up the remaining stairs, but instead found himself pushed against the metal railing, his arms behind him.  Then he heard the snick of metal rings closing and locking.  Nicholas stepped away from him, but he was not able to follow since his arms were now secured to the railing.  Through his link with his beloved, he detected irritation intertwined with mischief.  He leaned back on the rail.  “I can snap these off.  Easily.”

“Oh,” Nick said as he shook his head in mock concern, “then you won’t have any more fun with them.”

Lucien narrowed his eyes, willing to allow this to continue, curious as to where this could lead.  “Am I under arrest, Detective?”

“What do you think?”

“I would be concerned if this is how you treat all your suspects: stripping off their shirt and anchoring them to a metal pole.”

“It’s not.”  He gave Lucien an appraising scan.  “Just you.”

“So why have I been restrained?”

“Guess.”

“I have broken no law that applies to me.”

“Well,” Nick said, moving closer, “aside from being in possession of police tactical gear, to which I highly doubt the officer freely gave to you, you did unlawfully detain a police detective not too long ago, preventing him from doing his duty.”

“You enjoyed that, Nicholas,” Lucien reminded his beloved.

“I couldn’t concentrate for the rest of my shift.”

The elder grinned.  “I know,” he warmly purred.  “I was surprised you had enough control to wait until after your shift was over before satisfying that need.”  He waited for what Nicholas would do next, thinking about what he had intended to use the handcuffs for that night.

“You speak a lot about control.  Let’s see how much you have.”

“You think you can get me to lose control and break these?”

Nick’s lips twitched into a grin.  “Yes.” 

Lucien wore a matching expression.  “You may try.”

Nick allowed his fangs to drop, then brought his wrist up to his mouth and sliced through the skin.  Pressing the bleeding cut against Lucien’s mouth, he let his lover drink, then pulled away before Lucien could bite him.  “That’s the only blood you’re getting tonight.”

Lucien closed his eyes and tilted his head back, savoring what Nicholas had given him, tasting Nicholas’ intention, and passion.    

Nick watched as his lover exposed his neck.  Not wanting to waste the opportunity, he pressed against Lucien, ran his fingers through the pale short-cropped hair, and then angled the head to one side.  Nick let his sharp fangs scratch across the neck, drawing blood, then retracted them as he licked the oozing fluid and the punctured skin until the wound healed.  His lover’s sweet blood was filled with desire and a deep need that was never quite filled, both of which always kept Lucien coming back to his beloved.  Nick rumbled deeply as their link throbbed with increasing desire.  He stepped back; he had been tempted to snap the handcuffs off himself and drag his lover down upon the stairs.

Lucien opened his golden eyes, taking in the sight of his beloved, so close and yet so far from him.  He was almost tempted to just break the handcuffs now; however, Nicholas had been correct: he wanted these intact to use again later.  “Uncuff me, Nicholas, and we can enjoy each other fully.”

As an answer, Nick returned, pressing his hips against Lucien’s and kissing him first on the lips, then trailing down to the base of his neck.  His hands, meanwhile, wandered over the skin of his lover’s chest, following the muscle groups just under the surface.  When he encountered the nipples, they were small nubs under his palms, though with repeated kneading they became hard protrusions.  Nick applied his last kiss, then rested his forehead against the top of Lucien’s chest.  He moved his hands up to the sides of the elder’s chest, then let his fingers trickle downward, rising and falling over the bumps of the ribs.  He heard Lucien’s intake of breath, then the slow ragged exhale while also feeling the chest expand and then tremblingly contract.  Nick allowed his fingers to gradually find their own oblique path back to the center of his lover’s body, stopping when they touched the foreign texture of thick fabric instead of smooth skin. 

Nick leaned back and looked into his lover’s eyes as his fingers found the button and zipper on the pants and opened them.  A slight tug was all it took for the pants to fall down.  Returning his fingers to Lucien’s waist, he felt for another layer of clothing to remove but found only skin.  He quickly glanced down to confirm that there was, in fact, no more barriers to his goal before looking back up at his smiling lover.  Nick felt amusement through his link, then anticipation as to what would happen next.  Reaching down with one hand while the other was wrapped around his lover, he stroked the aroused tissue, first with just his fingertips, then later gripping with his whole hand. 

Lucien leaned back, using the metal rails as partial support to keep himself standing and still.  He closed his eyes and let out a soft moan of pleasure with each repetitive motion his beloved made.  After a final stroke, Nicholas’ hand stayed grasped at the base, then he heard rustling as the younger vampire kneeled down.  Then the stroking resumed, lips and mouth replacing the action that had been performed earlier by fingers and hand.  Lucien’s moans deepened and his vocalizations were made more often, matching to what his beloved was doing.  He felt when Nicholas’ fangs re-emerged, and though his beloved was keeping them covered with the inside of his lips, the feel of them slowly sliding along his aroused tissue turned his moans into growls of pleasure.  

Lucien quickly gripped the metal rail he was attached to, as to keep his hands together and not break the chain on the handcuffs when Nicholas shifted and allowed the tips of the fangs to skim along the stiff surface.  He could feel Nicholas’ increasing need to bite; the fangs, Lucien knew, would be tingling with the constant stimulus of rubbing against skin.  Still, his beloved continued, and Lucien roared when Nicholas released him and then immediately bit into his inner thigh.  He clenched his hands as hard as possible against the metal rail until his beloved stopped and Lucien forced himself to maintain control.  He watched Nicholas shakily stand, then feel behind him, confirming the handcuffs were still attached and intact.  “Go get your key and release me,” he rumbled.

Nick shook his head.  “Almost.”  He quickly went to the thin table behind the couch, pulled open the drawer, and took out his small key.  Returning to his maker’s side, he inserted the key and twisted it; the metal cuffs fell to the floor, releasing the elder.  Lucien quickly sidestepped away, and Nick got his first look at the railing.  The metal had been compressed and now had deep finger impressions on the surface. 

Lucien, after moving away, finished removing his pants and shoes.  Approaching the back of his beloved, he wrapped his arms around Nicholas and flew them both up to the bedroom.  Taking off the rest of his creations’ clothes, he gently laid Nicholas down onto the bed.  “Now, I challenge your prior assertion about how much blood I will have from you tonight.”  Mirroring the grin that was on his beloved’s face, Lucien moved to be on top and, fangs already locked into place, pierced and drew out the blood, tasting Nicholas’ joy and love for him.  After a few moments, he felt fangs enter his neck, and the pull on his blood indicated Nicholas was also sucking.  He continued the cycle, feeling a part of himself leave and go into Nicholas, just to reclaim his essence that was now mixed with Nicholas’ when he fed.  Still aroused, Lucien pulled his and Nicholas’ fangs out, lifted his beloved’s hips and legs, then completely entered the yielding opening in one swift motion.

Nick arched in response to the thrust, moaning as his lover repetitively moved within him, while his feelings merged with what Lucien was projecting through their mental connection.  With a final deep push, his sire stopped and leaned over.  Without hesitation, Nick reached out and brought his desire closer, then bit and claimed his lover’s blood again.  He didn’t even know he had been bitten until he felt the tug on his own blood.  Nick continued to maintain the connected cycle, drinking and savoring the sweet flavor of Lucien’s blood, the taste matching the ketchup he had eaten on his French fries, until they both climaxed, then fell into blissful contentment against each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who might be unfamiliar, Canadian ketchup is different than the spicy, vinegary ketchup available in the States. For a simple reference, imagine the sweet taste of pancake syrup, just a little thicker and red in color; that is what Canadian ketchup tastes like.


	9. Chapter 9

Nick lazily opened his eyes.  He was naked, curled on his side in bed.  There was a vague imprint on the sheet and pillow next to him indicating someone had been there but recently left.  Worried he was alone, Nick concentrated on his mental link with his maker and felt Lucien’s presence downstairs.  Relieved, he rolled onto his back and waited for his lover to return. 

Lucien leaned against the doorframe of the bedroom, admiring his beloved.  “You know, Nicholas, that I am never that far from you.”  He pushed himself off and walked over to his side of the bed.  “I will arrange for your metal rail to be fixed.”

Nick smiled.  “No, I think I’ll actually cut that part out and keep it when I leave.”

“I am flattered.”  He raised the bottle of blood he had carried up from the kitchen and drank from it, then extended the bottle to Nicholas.  “Drink.  You are hungry and need to regain your strength.”

Nick sat up and accepted what his sire offered.  He thought he only needed a few sips, but once he began to drink, he realized how thirsty he was and drank almost half the bottle.  He handed it back, and Lucien took the bottle and put it on the nightstand.

“You will most likely need more, later.”

Nick fell back onto the bed and watched Lucien sit down on the edge.  “Why?  Do you have something in mind for later?”

“Yes,” the elder silkily responded, as he dropped on the nightstand what he had in his other hand, which had been concealed from Nicholas’ sight.

Nick heard the sound of metal striking wood and looked over.  He saw the handcuffs before his vision was blocked by Lucien laying down on his side in bed next to him.  His lover reached over to embrace him, then gently pulled him over.  As Lucien shifted and repositioned to lay on his back, Nick curled to be partially on top of him.

Lucien ran his fingers through Nicholas’ hair, then drew them randomly along his beloved’s neck and back.  “Later, we shall see how much control you have.”      

Nick, caught between the relaxing feel of his lover’s caress and the completely safe feeling within the protective enclosure of his sire’s embrace, began to drift back to sleep.  He thought of the future use of the handcuffs and realized they would most likely not survive the day.  Nick also thought of the past, specifically the moment when he first truly accepted this relationship that had survived, off and on, for over seven centuries.   

 _1228 Paris, France_ < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < <

Nick was heading to LaCroix’s room; he had spent only one day thinking about what his maker had told him.  Though he had been given as much time as he wanted, he had made his choice, there was no reason to delay any longer.  Nick was about to knock on the door, but felt LaCroix there, waiting for him, felt his maker beckoning him in.  Upon entering, he saw the older vampire and could tell his sire already knew his decision. 

“You are here, Nicholas.  Have you decided and chosen for me to be your protector, mentor, and now finally, your lover?”

Nick nodded.  He had thought of nothing else.  When he had connected with LaCroix, tasted what was in his sire’s blood for him, how he had responded to it, he knew.  Deep down, he knew.  How could he have not realized it earlier?  Everything about his maker enthralled him, even the way LaCroix said his name.    

“Are you sure?”

Nick let out a ragged breath as he nodded again.  “Yes.”  He couldn’t imagine a reason he would ever turn back from this.  He had felt so complete with LaCroix; he knew he would never want to give that up. 

LaCroix guided his protégé over and indicated his bed.  “Take off your shoes and sit in the middle of the bed.”

Nick when over to the bed and did as his maker asked.

LaCroix came over and sat down on the edge of the bed.  “In a very ancient tradition, the lover gives the beloved three gifts.  As your eternal mentor and protector, I have already provided you two of these.  You must decide to accept the third and the relationship.”

Nick had thought on this since LaCroix had explained it to him.  He knew he desired LaCroix, and he knew the feeling was more than reciprocated.  He indicated that he was ready.

LaCroix grinned.  “The first gift was an ox, whose blood was sacrificed to Zeus in exchange for life and a bond of protection.”  He loosened the ties at his neck and opened the shirt he was wearing, so the skin and blood vessel underneath would be exposed.  He did the same for Nicholas.  “You freely gave your mortal blood to me and I provided you mine, given so you could eternally live and be bonded to and protected by me.”  LaCroix watched as Nicholas’ fangs dropped and his eyes turned to their glowing golden green color.  “The second gift was military attire.”  He placed his hands on Nicholas’ shoulders and slowly eased him down upon the bed.  He ran his hands along Nicholas’ cloth-covered chest, then took his hands off.  “I have given you a body durable enough to survive battle without dying.”  Nicholas impatiently tried to rise up, but LaCroix gently pushed him back; he smiled, glad Nicholas was eager for this.  “The third gift was a cup, for holding the libation that would be poured to the lover.”  He put his hand on Nicholas’ chest again; he could feel his beloved’s heartbeat increasing.  “You are the cup, Nicholas, eternally holding your blood and your desire.  Do you want to pour your libation out?”

“Yes, Lucien,” Nick passionately rumbled.  He could hear the sound of the blood moving through his lover’s veins, it’s sound still faint, like all their kind, but stronger than the sound from Janette.  The desire to use his locked fangs to extract out that blood was stronger and more instinctual than what he experienced when feeding on a mortal.

Lucien smiled, felt his fangs extend, and moved to be on top of Nicholas.  He reached down, kissed his lover’s lips, then neck, and then bit through the exposed skin.  A few moments later, he felt Nicholas bite him, completing the cycle.

Nick experienced Lucien’s blood, saturated with a passion and desire for him.  And the taste was sweeter than any mortal food or blood he had ever tried.  There were so many emotions, thoughts, and memories in the blood; so much he couldn’t follow them all.  Nick let himself get caught up in the flow, feeling himself simultaneously being drawn out into Lucien, mixing, and flowing back in through the blood he was taking.  The cycle continued, and soon there was no difference between his memories and thoughts and those of his lover’s.  Then everything faded into nothingness.

When Lucien retracted his fangs, he rolled off Nicholas and laid down beside him.  The young vampire was passionate and gave so much, gave all of himself, unable or, Lucien thought, unwilling to hold anything back.  He knew he would never find another like Nicholas.  He placed his arms protectively around his precious beloved and drifted into a contented sleep.

His maker woke up slightly before the sun set, Lucien’s shifting movements having finally awakened him.  Nick felt desire vibrating through his link with his lover; he opened his eyes, knowing they would not be blue.  He was in bed, his lover’s arms encircled him, cradled him.  He stretched to kiss the base of his lover’s neck, then reached up higher to bite.  He saw the flow in the blood vessels just under the skin surface.  The thin barrier needed only to be easily pierced through, and then the blood flow could begin.  Fangs fully descended, the need to bite was so overwhelming.  He couldn’t hold back anymore and instinctually sank his fangs into the vessel.  Fluid flowed in, his maker’s blood and emotions aroused him even more.  He continued to draw in blood; eventually, he felt twin pinpricks of pain in his neck where fangs pierced his skin.  The exchange was now circular, and with each pass of sharing the emotions and images were amplified and mixed until he couldn’t hold on to himself anymore.

Lucien retracted his fangs slightly after Nicholas had already done so.  He watched as his exhausted beloved closed his eyes and curled up next to him.  This was truly going to be one of his finest creations.  Lucien ran his fingers through Nicholas’ dark blond hair. 

“I love you,” Nick intensely declared.

Lucien smiled, feeling a matched desire in himself.  “Forever.” 


End file.
